Matt's Climbing Blog

Needles Video Finally (Sort of)

2011-10-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

So I finished the edit of the footage I got of me climbing Pyromania this summer in the Needles. The video is now up on Deadpoint Magazine (http://www.dpmclimbing.com/). It's in the stash section though so you have to pay the nominal $12 fee to have yearlong access to great videos--definitely worth it. Check it out if you are a DPM Stash subscriber.

Wrap up of East Coast trip

2011-10-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

I had some great slideshows and also got some good climbing in at the New River Gorge. Right now it's back to the grind of research.

Check out the blog post I wrote for Mountain Hardwear Sessions blog. There's also a cool video by Pat Goodman that shows some of the projects we were climbing on in the New.

Hardwear Blog

Tour Underway Tomorrow

2011-09-21T20:49:00.001-07:00

I'm excited to start my slideshow tour tomorrow. I have 8 shows booked and it should be a great time. The venues are a mix of college campuses and climbing gyms. Unfortunately, some colleges restrict the audience to just students.

Here are the shows that are definitely open everyone. You should come if you are in the vicinity. The show is going to be awesome and there will be a chance to win lots of great gear from my sponsors as well (see list below)

Friday 9/30 Metrorock (Everett) -- 7pm
Saturday 10/1 University of Maine, Orono -- 8pm, 101 Neville Hall
Monday 10/3 Carabiners Climbing Gym, Fairfield, CT -- 8pm

I'm giving also giving shows at Middlebury College, Williams College, Phillips Academy Andover, Colby College, and Virginia Tech.

Mountain Hardwear, La Sportiva, and Metolius hooked me big time with some awesome giveaways. Here's a rough compilation of what you all will have the chance to win! These guys are awesome for supporting the climbing community --- support them with your business when you get the chance.

Mountain Hardwear packs, pairs of La Sportiva climbing shoes, Hardwear Ts, Sportiva trucker caps, Hardwear beanies, Metolius chalk bags, Metolius M16 bouldering brushes, tons of Metolius chalk, Hueco Tanks guidebooks, and Yosemite Bouldering Guidebooks

New England Slideshow Tour

2011-09-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

I'm putting together a slideshow tour through New England for the end of September and beginning of October. I already have a few venues lined up but I have some open slots in the schedule too. I'm focusing on doing shows at colleges but am open to any location. If you're interested in hosting a show or know someone who might be, shoot me an email at the address on the poster below. For places with climbing facilities, I'm also offering to do a bouldering clinic. I'm psyched to head back to New England for a bit and cruise through my original stomping grounds. Hopefully I can motivate a few climbers along the way.

Bouldering Above Gear: A Synthesis of Distant Disciplines
by Matt Wilder

Through this multimedia show I'll try to figure out why I tend to find myself far above gear with hard moves between me and safety --- a question I ask myself often. I'll begin by tracking my history as a climber following my split identity as a boulderer and a trad climber with some classic photos from my early days. The bulk of the show will highlight classic climbs and boulder problems I've established, repeated, or failed on in the past. The show will culminate with a personal narrative of my experience establishing two new 5.14R trad routes in the Front Range, Viceroy and Cheating Reality, accompanied by video footage and photo sequences. I'll also explore my quest for the ultimate trad route that combines runout 5.13 climbing with a fairly well protected V13 or harder boulder problem.

May I introduce you to Bayes Wilder

2011-07-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

This photo pretty much sums up what I've been up to since my trip to Switz and France.

Bayes was born mid-May and has now been fully integrated into my climbing lifestyle. My wife Sandy and I have been on a road trip with the little one now for three weeks and we've been getting some great climbing in. We started in the Tahoe area and now we're climbing in the Needles in California. The climbing highlight of the trip so far has definitely been my redpoint of the classic trad route Pyromania 13b in the Needles. What a rad crack. I have some video footage that I'll be editing together soon, but for now here's some stills that show me on the climb.

Francerland on Vimeo

2011-05-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

I uploaded my video from France and a bit of Switzerland to vimeo so it can be embedded anywhere. Here it is if you haven't seen it yet:

Francerland from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Slideshow Tonight in Denver

2011-04-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm giving the last of my three shows in Denver tonight. The show in Durango last night went really well and I think tonight could be even better. I'll be talking about my progression as a climber beginning with vintage photos of my early years and then moving towards some of the recent cutting edge gear routes I've established. I'll also be showing a short rough cut from Chuck Fryberger's new film the Scene which shows my ascent of the Golden Bullet 5.13d in the New River Gorge.

Come out to the Wilderness Exchange at 8:30pm for an entertaining and inspirational evening.

Francerland

2011-04-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

I edited together a video of Ethan and I bouldering in Font and it's finally done and up on the web. It's being hosted on the brand new and improved La Sportiva site. Check out the video... hope you like it.

www.sportiva.com

Mini Colorado Slideshow Tour

2011-04-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

I'm doing three slideshows next week in various Colorado locations. The first show is on Tuesday the 26th at Summing Canyon Mountaineering in Glenwood Springs. On Wednesday I'm giving a show at Backcountry Experience in Durango. On Thursday the 28th, I'll be giving a show at the Wilderness Exchange in Denver.

If you're in the area, come by and check out a show. All are free. I'll be talking about my history as a climber and the crossover between bouldering and trad climbing that I've experienced in the past few years. I'll be showing photos and some video.

Here are the posters for the shows:

Red Rocks video on Deadpoint

2011-04-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

John Dickey put together a short video of Ethan and I trying this project in Red Rocks over New Years. It just got posted on Deadpoint Mag. Check it out here:

http://www.dpmclimbing.com/climbing-videos/watch/bouldering-ethan-pringle-and-matt-wilder

My video from Switzerland and France is done and will be up somewhere soon.

New? Highballs in Eldo

2011-03-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I climbed two really cool highballs on the big block past Midnight Frightening near the boulder with Elegant Infinite. I don't really know the name of any of the actual boulders back there. Anyway, these problems were really cool and seemed like first ascents. Well one seemed like it had never been climbed and the other has a TR anchor on it so it has perhaps been climbed but I wonder if it's been bouldered. If anyone knows anything about these two lines, I'd be psyched to hear.

The first problem I did is this rad slightly overhanging face on the side of the boulder you see when you first approach it. It's about 12ft right of a 5.13 sport climb and starts off the slab the boulder sits on. You do a slightly awkward reach out to a pocket and then take a fun big swing on crimps. From there you move up to another big edge and then you have to pull the hardest moves. The crux sequence starts with a long move to a small left hand crimp. Then you hand heel match and bring your right hand to an even worse crimp. Once established on these two tiny holds, you have to make a slightly dynamic move to the jug at the lip. It's quite scary because at that point you're probably 15ft above the landing which slopes away from the problem. The mantle is relatively easy as is the 15ft of slab that leads to the top. All in all it's a super classic line. The only thing that could take away from it is the sharpness of the two small crimps. This is Eldo though and sharp holds are fairly common. It was tough to estimate the difficulty, but it seemed like V8 or V9. I'd love to hear if the problem has been bouldered or TR'ed and if it has a name. It definitely hadn't been done in a while because there was lichen on the crux crimps. If it doesn't have a name, I was thinking of suggesting the name "Jetlag" due to my 3am wakeup the day I did it.

Chuck Fryberger was out with me and caught these two ascents for his new film The Scene which will probably come out sometime in August. Here are a few captures from the first problem.

The second problem is pretty much on the exact opposite side of the boulder. It starts with a small jump to an obvious jug. Then you head up and left through a pocket and a funky pebble crimp. It has some really cool moves through a bulge and then a high vertical face with small crimps leading to the top out jugs. A really awesome line up a beautiful sweeping part of the boulder. This one felt to be about V7 or V8 and I was thinking of calling it "Bones." Though it's obvious and seems like it must have already been done, I'm pretty sure this one is new because lots of foot holds and hand holds had lips that crumbled easily. If it had been climbed, I think these would have been cleaned up a bit. Here are a few screen captures of this problem. What a treat to climb these two problems in one day!

Back in the states

2011-03-28T04:44:00.000-07:00

So I'm back in the states now and woke up this morning at 4:40. The one good side of the return jetlag is that you have lots of time in the morning to be productive. I'm taking advantage of that to write a quick summary post about the trip.

All ended well. On Saturday we got an early start warming up at Elephant. I did a good portion of the blue circuit there which was tons of fun. It's a real adventure through the boulders and has a bunch of highball problems. They mapped out the first problems so you can go from one to the next without ever having to walk on the ground.

Once we were warmed up we headed to Elephunk and Ethan gave it some goes. Unfortunately the conditions were a bit mungy at the boulder and Ethan had to let it go for another trip. Next we stopped off at my favorite bakery (Frederic and Delphine's Artisan Boulanger in Ury) and stocked up on croissants and other delectable treats for the drive back to Zurich. With that important business taken care of, we drove over to the area with Gecko.

I had Ethan give me weight through the first move because I wanted to try slightly different beta for the next move. The higher foot worked well for me and I climbed to the top. I came close on my next go and then sent on my third try of the day. The problem felt pretty good and I found myself wishing I had more time to work on the 8b+ sit start which is the most obvious start for the problem. Next time I guess. Ethan got back on Les Beaux Quartiers 8a again and looked much more solid on the moves. Then he gave it a go from the bottom and cruised it.

We were both psyched to finish the trip on a good note and decided to end our day while we were ahead. The drive back to Zurich was mellower than I was expecting. My flights yesterday were long and arduous but I think it's always that way with international flights. Now I'm back in Boulder with lots of school work and house work to get done. I have a few climbing projects in mind too though so perhaps you'll be hearing more about those soon.

Below are three sceen captures from some of the video I got. I'll be editing a longer video of the trip that will be posted on the Sportiva site. I'll post a link to it when it's up.

Me on Gecko 8a+

Ethan on Les Beaux Quartiers 8a

Me doing Fata Morgana 8a

One Day Left...

2011-03-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good day for me. I felt good warming up and got back on Fata Morgana 8a. I stuck the crux move on my second try but didn't have the hold quite right and fell. On my third go, I got it perfectly and cruised to the top. It was nice to come back to this problem which had sort of thrashed me several days ago.

In the middle of the day we went by Elephunk 8b for Ethan to try again. Despite the generally hot weather, it was surprisingly good conditions there. Ethan came really close but didn't quite stick. I tried it a bit and did all the moves but one. The one I couldn't do seemed really hard... I just couldn't make sense of it... and it's not really the crux move for most people.

Late in the day I went back to Gecko and made some good progress on it. I did all the moves and stuck the first move about 5 or 6 times. I think I'm really close and have a good chance of doing it tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last day and the weather forecast is calling for potential showers in the afternoon. Hopefully Ethan and I can finish our projects. It'll make the 7 hour drive back to Zurich and 15 hour flight much more bearable for me.

Check out these photos that Marc Daviet got in the photo shoot we did in Ticino.

Off to go get the best croissants in the region right now. yum!

Adversity in Europe

2011-03-23T04:05:00.001-07:00

Well I can't really complain too much, but the beginning of the trip was a bit of a struggle. I arrived in Zurich the morning of the 11th, picked up Ethan, and drove down to Ticino. We made it out to Cresciano and the weather was glorious. I had my sights set on doing a problem I had failed on years ago called Frank's Wild Years 8a+. We warmed up and gave it some goes. We both figured out all the moves and I climbed it from 2 moves in. Ethan managed to send just before dark, but I ran out of juice and was feeling a bit spent from the long day of travel.

That night we made a big pasta dinner and something in it wrecked my stomach. I was sick all night, hardly slept at all. I'll leave out the details, but it was a really unpleasant night and there was no way I could join the crew then next day out in snowy Magic Wood. The following day arrived and the weather was completely rainy -- a forced rest day. The weather was mostly rainy for the next two days but we managed to get out and climb a few things. On the second day, I got back on Frank's Wild Years and linked to the last hard move but couldn't keep the tenuous heel hook long enough.

With the forecast showing 5 more days of rain, Ethan and I made the decision to seek sunnier situations. Oddly enough the weather in Fontainebleau was looking splitter so we got in the car and headed there. The first two days were a bit cloudy and it even rained for a moment, but mostly the weather was good. I pretty much rested the first day but climbed some easier problems in Isatis to get some movement in after the 8 hour car ride. The next day, we went to Petit Bois. There were some fun moderates to warm up on and then we hopped on Big Dragon 8a. I tried really hard on my first burn and it flared up my bicep tendonitis a bit... I guess 4 days of climbing in a row can be too much some time. I kept trying the problem a bit but never quite figured out the top moves which require a really small crimp on a sloper. Later in the day we went to another area and I managed a flash of a really classic crimp problem called Megalithe 7c (one of 3 problems in the forest with that name). I have some raw video of that ascent here.

Megalithe and La Beline from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

After a rest day, Ethan and I headed back out with Paul Robinson to the boulder with Fata Morgana. It had rained the night before so things were a bit wet, but the problems on that boulder were mostly dry. The warm up was pretty pathetic and probably not enough to avoid more bicep tendonitous. We tried Fata Morgana for a while and Ethan eventually did it. I climbed through to the last move, but slipped off trying to adjust my hand in this bad pocket. Hopefully I can get back out to finish it up. While we were working on Fata, Paul was working the 8c traverse into it called Angama. It looked pretty cool and Paul was getting really good links on it. I think it'll go down for him quick.

Despite needing another rest day, we decided to climb again the next day. We went out to Gecko which is an awesome 8a+ sloper problem on a cool face. I stuck the first move on my first try but was baffled by the second move. Eventually my arm started hurting more and I had to throw in the towel for the day. The problem felt really hard but I think if I could try it more, I could figure it out (at least the stand start).

Yesterday was my last day of climbing (I had one rest day the day before). My body felt like it was working a little better which was nice. We had a really slow warm up at Isatis that I ended with a flash of Alta 7b+. I was psyched to do this problem because I had always seen it and thought of it as a hard problem. Next we headed to Tajine 8a+ to try it. The problem requires some really hard squeezing and heel hooking. It took a while to figure a sequence that worked for me, but eventually I came up with something I think will work. I'm hoping to get back on it tomorrow. I think I have a decent chance of doing it, but it's one of those problems that is really hard all the way from the start to the finish so it's easy to fall in lots of places. I'm psyched to try hard on it though. To end the day, I gave a go at a 7c+ called something like Terre de la Lune. It was a really cool face with slopes and a long move off a sidepull high off the deck. I gave it a go and stuck it my first try. It was super cool and I ended up climbing it again to get some video footage of it. It was probably the coolest climb I've done this trip (though that is not saying much since I haven't completed many problems).

Another rest day today and then I have 3 more days left (probably only 2 climbing). Hopefully I can finish off some of the problems I've already tried. I'm feeling better and starting to get into the groove of font climbing so maybe things will work out. It would be great to have another month here -- so many amazing problems.

Off to Switzerland Soon

2011-03-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy two months at home but I'm finally getting a bit of time off and will be heading out to Switzerland for some bouldering. I've been so busy here with research, classes, and remodeling my bathroom that I've had little time to climb outside. I managed to do some good indoor training in preparation for the bouldering nationals last month and it paid off because I ended up finishing in 15th place. I'm feeling pretty strong now even though I haven't done too much climbing since then. I beat myself down so hard during the competition that a long rest was good. Still, I'm itching to get outside and climb some fresh new problems.

I'm meeting up with Ethan Pringle and Paul Robinson over there and we're hoping to do a mix of repeating classics and doing a few new problems. Paul has been over there for a while now and has pretty much crushed everything so I'm sure he'll mostly be doing new stuff. Ethan is climbing 5.15 routes in Spain right now so I'm sure he'll be hiking the long power endurance problems. I'm just psyched to get my hands on some high quality granite. As of now, the weather is looking a bit sketchy, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will clear up.

As the trip progresses, I'll try to post some updates. I'll also be posting stuff on the Sportiva LIVE site and the Mountain Hardwear sessions blog. I'm bringing my video camera with me so hopefully I'll get some good footage to upload too. So psyched to get out... only a few days left, I fly on Thursday.

Vegas

2011-01-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

Check out a post I put together for the Mountain Hardwear blog on my trip to Vegas. I also edited a video that you can find there.

http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Blog-Post/BlogPost,default,pg.html?bpid=2011_1_14_MattWilder_RedRocks

Where's Matt

2011-01-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

So here's a new blog post... It's been a while, but I figured I'd post a few things and give an update on what I'm doing. Part of the reason the blogging has been scarce is that I've been busy with school -- the other part is just laziness. Not too much exciting happened this Fall for me in the climbing world, but things have been picking up as the prime winter season kicks into gear. I had a great trip to the New River Gorge over Thanksgiving to climb gear routes. Chuck Fryberger came along and captured some awesome footage for the new film he's working on. He put together a great blog post summing up the trip. Check it out here:

http://chuckfryberger.com/blog/2010/11/30/west-by-god-virginia/

Right now I'm in Vegas bouldering around Red Rocks. I've managed a few good ascents and am hoping for a couple more before I leave in a few days. Going to scope some stuff today -- hopefully it looks good. For the first week of my trip I was climbing here with my wife Sandy -- Oh yeah, getting married was another thing that made for a busy Fall and led to no blog posts -- and with my brother and his girlfriend. We got a bit of good climbing in, but the weather was quite cold and windy. The weather has become splitter though and I've been climbing with Ethan Pringle and Steve DeLuca for the past few days. John Dickey is rolling the camera capturing some footage that I'm sure will be up sometime soon for your viewing pleasure. I have a bit of footage recorded that I'll be posting soon as well.

A final bit of news I'd like to share is my recent appearance in Boulder's local newspaper. They compiled a list of top 6 Colorado climbing achievements in the past decade and my ascent of Cheating Reality made the list. Check out the article here:

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_17009978

Iron Monkey Footage

2010-08-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

Well, the slideshow was a success last night. Thanks to everyone that showed up and thanks to Mountain Hardwear, La Sportiva, and Metolius for donating swag for the raffle. All in all, $305 was raised for the Access Fund.

For those that missed the show, here's a new video I put together for it. It shows some of my attempts on Iron Monkey and also includes an interesting fall. I still haven't finished this climb. Those who follow this blog probably know that I've been close for a long time. Perhaps I'll be able to pull it off this fall.

Enjoy the vid.

Iron Monkey Attempts from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Another Slideshow (Bent Gate Mountaineering)

2010-08-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

OK, I know this is lame... It's been a slow summer and I haven't posted here since my last slideshow months ago. Still I wanted to announce a show I'm giving soon. I'll be posting more content here soon as the Fall season comes into swing.

I'm giving a show 8pm this Wednesday (8/11) at Bent Gate Mountaineering in Golden, CO. If you're around, you should definitely try to make it. It will cost $5 but all the proceeds will go to the Access Fund and there will be a raffle at the end. Mountain Hardwear hooked me up with some great swag including two packs and several hats and shirts. La Sportiva donated a gift card for one free pair of shoes and some hats. To top things off, Metolius gave me some rock rings to give away along with other misc booty.

I'll be doing the show solo so it will be significantly different than the last show I did with Andy Mann and Jonathan Siegrist. I'll be showing photos and video that cronicle my progression as a climber and tell the story of how I've merged my love for trad climbing and bouldering.

Here's the full description of the show:

"Bouldering above gear: a synthesis of distant disciplines"

by Matt Wilder

Through this multimedia show I'll try to figure out why I tend to find myself far above gear with hard moves between me and safety --- a question I ask myself often. I'll begin by tracking my history as a climber following my split identity as a boulderer and a trad climber with some classic photos from my early days. The bulk of the show will highlight classic climbs and boulder problems I've established, repeated, or failed on in the past. I'll show an unseen video compilation of some of my better falls and video footage of several 5.13 and 5.14 trad climbs. The show will culminate with a personal narrative of my experience establishing two new 5.14R trad routes in the Front Range, Viceroy and Cheating Reality, accompanied by video footage and photo sequences. If time permits, I'll also talk about some of my bigwall free climbing forays in Yosemite and the magnetism which has recently been pulling my thoughts back to El Cap. At the end I'll be giving away and raffling swag from my sponsors: Mountain Hardwear, La Sportiva, and Metolius.

Colorado Burl Slideshow Tomorrow

2010-04-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone who's in the Boulder area should come out to the slideshow I'm giving with Andy Mann and Jonathan Siegrist at Neptune tomorrow (Thursday) at 8pm. Andy's going to be showing a sick set of photos from his collection including exposes of my two 5.14 trad FAs in the Boulder area. He'll also be showing photos from Jstar's new sport crag in RMNP and Jstar will be giving a full rundown of the place. I'll be talking some about my two routes and the experience I had on them. We're going to have a raffle with some great swag. I know Mountain Hardwear hooked up some great stuff and we have good product from other companies too. All in all it's going to be a kickin' time, so make sure you're there.

In other news, I'm still recovering from the UBC Earth Treks comp last weekend. I climbed so much and was so sore. This comp was totally sick -- such a strong field, great setting, and tons of climbing. I finished 16th which I was happy with considering I hadn't been training much and how deep the field was. I felt like I could have done a bit better on some of the problems in the semis, but that's always how comps feel unless you flash the problems. It was a ton of fun and it was great to watch the finals. Tons of action. I hear the live internet stream was great too. I think they've put some clips up on their website. Anyway, these guys are putting on pretty sick events. Check out the UBC website. Another comp that looks to be really cool is the Battle in the Bubble which is going to be an outdoor (but on plastic) comp on May 15th at the Boulder Reservoir. I'm going to be out of town for the New River Rendezvous which I'm super stocked for so I'll miss the comp here. I'm sure it's going to be a really fun time though.

Masterpiece Video

2010-04-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a video I edited of my attempts and eventual send of Masterpiece V13 in Joe's. I was trying to capture the whole process in this video. Hopefully you don't find it too redundant.

In other news, I have my "80's Rocker Hair" costume all planned for the premiere of Core. Everyone attending should dress up cause you could win some good stuff. I also got back on the Iron Monkey this weekend in Eldo. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it went and hopefully I'll be able to finally accomplish this long term project. More on the Iron Monkey to come soon.

Masterpiece V13, Joe's Valley from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Core on Blu-ray (and premiere soon)

2010-04-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to remind everyone that the premiere of Core is this coming Wednesday at the Boulder Theater. Don't miss it. For those of you who can't wait, the movie is now available on Blu-ray. This is the first release of the film and it won't be available on DVD for a few more weeks. The Blu-ray version will also have some extra footage in it including the uncut Fred Nicole interview. Buy it here:

http://www.bouldering.com/products/Core-Blu-Ray.html

Joe's Recap

2010-03-31T10:10:00.000-07:00

My trip to Joe's is over now and after climbing 7 out of the past 10 days, my body is in need of some serious rest. I feel very fortunate to have had such an amazing trip with perfect weather, great problems, fun ascents, and cool people to hang with. Here's a quick recap of my last days of climbing. Also, I'll try to update my Joe's beta post soon with the info I gleaned from this trip.

On Saturday, I decided not to go back to Masterpiece because my body was still sore from the many attempts on Thursday. Instead I warmed up and climbed some fun problems at the Eden area including Save Yourself which is awesome, and a fun new Huecoesque problem called Bring the Heatwole. Later in the day I tried Mask of God V13 a bit. I stuck the big gaston move out right but wasn't sure how to do the next move. I also tried the project left of Wind Below. This is an amazing line but very hard. I didn't have much psyche so I only tried it twice. It seems doable though, someone just needs to get it done. Sunday was another rest day.

On Monday, I took a slow warm up at the riverside area and then made my way up to Masterpiece. I pulled on in the middle and climbed to the top for more warm up and to practice the moves. My fingers got numb and my left arm got a slight pump that wouldn't go away. I started giving it goes from the bottom and on my second and third attempt I climbed through the crux and fell in the middle section. My heel blew off a slopey heel hook both times. On my next go though, I tried a bit harder, climbed through the middle section and sketched my way through the high finishing moves with numb fingers and waning strength. It was a real fight and I got a little lucky to pull it off. We got some great footage of the send which I'm editing now and will hopefully have up soon.

Yesterday, I wanted to get a bit of climbing in before hitting the road. I climbed the straight up from Ghost King which goes at V10. This problem was never named so we started calling it Porn King to have something to call it. I guess the problem to the left, Ghosts of War, has also been called Porn King. We figured that a problem doesn't really need two names so we stole this name for the direct problem. It's a really fun problem and has an awesome sloper at the lip. Check out video of this problem below. To end the trip, I gave a few goes on Knocking Room which broke and is now a project. The moves seem feasible but will be very hard. It involves serious crimping and I'm guessing it will check in around V13. Still a cool problem, but I can tell it won't be as classic as the pre-break Knocking Room.

Here's a recap of the problems I climbed this trip:

Ghost King V11
Ghosts of War V12
Obelisk V9
Black Dahlia V10
Dance With the Devil V7
Kill List V12
Godsend V9
G207 V7
Save Yourself V8
Bring the Heatwole V8
Masterpiece V13
Porn King V10

Porn King V10, Joe's Valley from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Joe's Update #2

2010-03-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

Past two days have been great. Today is another rest day -- definitely needed after climbing my first 4 out of 5 days. Here's a quick run down of the past two days. The first day, after warming up, I headed above the right sign area and checked out some awesome problems. First was Sunshine Daydream V6 which had some fun moves. My girlfriend Sandy sent this in a few tries which was rad. Next Justin, Noah and I worked out the moves on Dance With the Devil V7. This problem is one of the best problems in Joe's, scary but totally rad. I did it after a few attempts figuring out the top. After this I started working on Kill List, the V12 to the right that shares a similar finish. I worked out all the moves and then sent my first full try. Probably took about 10 tries in total. Kill List is also a great problem well worth the hike. With the light fading, we hiked farther up the hill and found Godsend V9. This problem is quite uncharacteristic for the area with big slopers. I flashed the problem, Justin and Noah both dispatched quickly and we made it down the hill just as it got fully dark.

Yesterday I warmed up climbing G207 V7 (which Sandy is close on) and then worked on Masterpiece V13 in the afternoon. I figured out all the beta, but was having trouble with a foot switch at the beginning of the problem. Eventually I figured out some micro beta to make the foot switch easier but at this point was too fatigued to do the full sequence. I'm really excited to go back to it tomorrow and am confident that it'll go smoothly. This problem is probably my favorite of the trip so far. Such an impressive boulder and location. On top of that the holds are amazing and the movement is really fun. I can't wait to climb it in its entirety. Fun!

Here's a video I put together of Kill List. It doesn't have the best angles, but shows the problem a bit. This is pieced together from a few tries (hence the inconsistency in the spotter's attire). We got more angles and the problem will probably go into Try Harder. For now, my goal was to just get some footage out there so people could see the problem and get psyched for it. Get up there and do it -- it's rad.

Kill List V12, Joe's Valley from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Joe's Update #1

2010-03-23T11:37:00.001-07:00

Today is my first rest day since I've been here. I drove out on Saturday and got in after dark so didn't get to climb at all. Sunday and Monday were perfect conditions though --- sunny but still with a bit of a chill in the air. On Sunday I climbed at New Joe's and after a long warm up Noah Kaufman and I made our way over to the Ghost King Boulder. I pulled on to the Ghosts of War V12 for a few tries to get my fingers psyched for some smaller holds. Then I down climbed from the top to check out the top out of Ghosts of War and the Ghost King V11. After watching Noah give a few burns on Ghost King, I got psyched to see how it felt. My first go was solid, but I fell releasing a toe hook because I missed the good foothold. I sent the problem on my second go. Super classic line, lots of fun. My fingers were a bit shocked from pulling hard so I took a short break before getting back on Ghosts of War. I had Noah give me some weight through the first moves of the problem so I could feel a pocket halfway up. It felt pretty bad and I dropped off. Without many expectations, I jumped on from the start to try the first moves again and just feel out the problem. I stuck the opening sequence and got my right hand into the small two finger pocket. Unsure of which feet to use and not really finding anything good, I just made a long campus to the good incut above. I stuck this and sketched my way through the sandy topout moves. It was really enjoyable to climb this problem because I had to improvise and climb in the moment. I think it went down 5th try which was really cool.

Yesterday was lots of fun too and again perfect weather. After a warm up, I went up to the Obelisk V9 with Noah and Justin Alarcon. It took a bit to figure out and get motivated for the scary finishing moves. Once figured out though, Justin and I sent the problem. Next on the list was the Black Dahlia a problem rumored to perhaps be the best V10 in Joe's. We saw it and it was pretty spectacular. The line comes out a beautiful slightly overhanging black wall with macro features but not tons of small edges and pockets. The business comes down to a long move to a sloper and then some heel hooking and toe camming to get to a decent lip hold. To surmount the lip you have to pull a long move to a good edge and then press up and over. On my flash go I stuck the long move but didn't feel the heel hook right. After a few more goes I had the problem figured out and sent on my 4th try. We got some cool footage of the problem which should make it into the long awaited "Try Harder" due out in a year or so. Psyched for more cranking tomorrow!

Here's video of me doing Obelisk.

Obelisk V9, Joe's Valley from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Last Prep for Joe's

2010-03-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty much ready for Joe's though I still have to do a bunch of packing and other things that need to be wrapped up before I leave town. Yesterday was my last day of climbing. I got out to Eldo for a short bouldering session to reaccustom my skin to sharp rock and to pull on some small crimps. I went to the Gill boulder which is right next to the road in Eldo. Surprisingly, I had never climbed on this boulder and there were some pretty fun problems to do. I managed a flash of 606 V10 and I climbed the Horan Problem from a sit to the left which felt V9ish. I also checked out Resonated V9 which is on the river nearby. That problem is awesome and I climbed it on my first try. Really fun. I was happy with the outing and feel strong and ready to get after it in Joe's. The weather is looking bad in CO Friday night and Sat. morning so I'm going to have to postpone leaving by a bit. I was going to leave late Friday, but now I'll probably wait for the weather to pass. Unfortunately, that means I probably won't get to Joe's in time to climb on Saturday. Still I'll get there soon enough and be cranking in no time. Psyched.

Joe's Valley To Do List and Beta (edited)

2010-03-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

So I got back out to Clear Creek Canyon this weekend and finished up my business on Interstellar Overdrive 13d. I gave a warm-up burn on it and then sent it next try (4th on try on the route). I was psyched with how smoothly it went. The climbing was really fun. Apart from being a bit height dependent (not a problem for me) and having one nasty sharp crimp and some glue, this is a great climb. That sounds like a bunch of ifs, but it really is a fun line. Here's a photo of me on the lower section of the route.

I'm really getting psyched for my trip to Joe's Valley that's coming up. I feel like I'm in good shape and am excited to try lots of new problems. I've been doing some research and have put together a list of problems I'd like to try. This is my list (perhaps a bit ambitious):

Masterpiece V13
The Ghost King V11
Ghost of War V11/12
Black Dahlia V10
Skeleton Key V11
Zero V13
Prince of Thieves V11
Mask of God V13
Moment of Truth v10
Right Sign Project V10-12?
Botox Bowtie V13
Beyond Life Sit V12
Godsend V9
Kill List V12
Black Out V12/13
Black #1 V12
The Zodiac V12 (Where's this one?)

In making this list I combed a bunch of internet sites trying to get beta on where the new problems are. I've climbed a bunch in Joe's but still didn't know where many of them are. I put together an expanded list with beta on how to find new problems. I did this mainly for myself when I get there. I thought I'd share it with everyone because some may find it useful. You should know that it is probably riddled with errors because this is info I collected through the web and almost none of it is first hand knowledge. Perhaps I'll revise it after this trip. I think there's a new guide coming out soon which will be much better than this list.

Also I added links at the bottom to videos of some of these problems.

*******************************************
NOTE: I owe most of this information to Jamie Emerson's blog (especially this post which has photos of lots of the boulders) and Anthony Chertudi's site. Also the stars are a complete guess on my part from photos and descriptions. Don't take them seriously... I just did them for myself because I thought they'd help me remember the ones I must check out.
*******************************************

JOE'S VALLEY NEW PROBLEMS BETA

NEW JOE'S

The Ghost King V11 **, Ghost of War V11/12 **, V10, V8, V6, V5
New Joe's Wash. In a drainage on the right shortly after old mine and rusty car when hiking to New Joe's from the new access point higher up the road. Ghost King starts under and left of slopy arete lip. Big move to the right and then toe hook to get up to the upper slopers. Ghost King can be climbed straight up from the starting hold and is about V10. Ghosts of War V12 takes the white streak up the middle of the Ghost King boulder. The left arete of the boulder is V8. Line of crimps to the right of the left arete goes at about V6. To the left is a small boulder with a great slab that is V5 or so and climbs a mono.

LEFT FORK (all mileage from the National Forest Sign)

Masterpiece V13 ****
Up the Left fork just after the right fork splits off. Park about 100yds past the split. The boulder is across the river and a ways up the hill. It's the largest boulder on the hill, is long and brown, and a built up landing is visible at the bottom.

Left Arete of Majestic Boulder V11 ** (0.18 mi.)
Across river early on left fork. Maybe this is The Zodiac V12?.

Groundation V8/9, Obelisk V9, Black Dahlia V10 **** (1.1 mi.?)
To access this new area, drive about 150yds past the mine cart and park in a large pullout on the right side of the road. An obvious trail will lead about 200yds up the hill to the new boulders. Farthest left is Groundation V8 or V9. The Obelisk V9 is almost straight up from the parking lot, and is visible about half way up the hill, up and to the left. It starts in the middle of the face and heads right, to the arete. The Black Dahlia V10 lies hidden in a gulley of boulders about 200 yds up from the road, three quaters of the way to the cliffband and is the right most problem.

The Skull V11 (0.27 mi.)
Across river from "Wood removal by permit" sign. Long black boulder. Fairly obvious short bulge on left side.

Skeleton Key V11, Zero V13, V9, Proj. (0.35 mi.)
A large parking lot on the left. Park here to access Halloween Town, which is upstream about 50yds from the parking lot. The Skeleton Key V11 is up the hill about 7 min and is most notable for the very hard and crimpy sit-start that has ALMOST been climbed by James Litz. For Skeleton Key, pull on, left crimp, right hand pocket, and then jump for sloper. The arete to the right of Skeleton Key is V9. From here hike about 50yds up canyon to a massive overhang. Zero V13 climbs out the right side, starting on two small crimps in the black rock and heading right through a mono.

A Wrinkle in Time V11 **, Prince of Thieves V11 ***, Proj. (0.7 mi.)
A small pullout on the left. The massive boulder in the river that faces the road is A Wrinkle in Time V11. There is a project on the left side of the overhang. From here, look back down the canyon towards two massive boulders on the hill. On the down canyon side of the uphill boulder is a long black face. This is Prince of Thieves and it climbs from two small crimps, then big left hand move, then grab right hold off to the right and do another big move out left to a hold. Match this hold and then move to the left again. Pretty much straight up from here to high finish.

Big Crimpin' V10/11 **, Dark Continent V7 **, Ghurka Knife V9 **, V7 (1.5 mi.)
Pullout on the left, just before the 8 Mile sign. This small gulley right of the road is home to several problems. Big Crimpin’ V10 is at the top of the cluster and faces down river. Climb a few hard crimp moves to fun moves on juggy shelves. The arete to the left of this goes maybe around V8 but is a bit scary. Dark Continent V7 and Ghurka Knife V9 are around a cave-like feature half-way up the hill. Down towards the river is an obvious and sharp V7 arete.

Trent's Mom Area (2.0 mi.)

Mask of God V13 **, Man From the Past V11 **, Wind Below V8 ****
The Powerline Boulder lies about 100yds down stream at the same level as Trent’s Mom. There is a fairly well worn trail to the boulder, which faces downstream. The first part of the trail is a bit of a steep scramble. Man from the Past is the left most problem. Mask of God starts the same and then diverges right. Wind below is the tall face to the right. Perhaps there is another problem on this boulder called Darkest Star V10.

Moment of Truth v10 **
From the Trent’s Mom parking area, cross the river and head up the obvious drainage. After about 10 min you will come to a cluster of three or four large boulders. Almost directly in the stream is a very nice Harry Robertson problem, The Moment of Truth V10. This faces the road and begins on a perfect flat edge. The first move is a tough one, up to a right hand sloping edge. A couple crimp moves lead to a wonderful and technical mantel.

Right Sign Area (2.1 mi.)

Right Sign Project V10-12? ***
Right next to the road at the start of the Right Sign approach.

Botox Bowtie V13 **
This is the short prow just below Wills of Fire (Left Sign area). Hard compression moves low to the ground. On the same boulder as the Right Sign Project. Could be easier than 13.

Beyond Life Sit V12 **

Eden V10 ***, Anatomy Act sit V9
On right side of road just past Right Sign area up the hill a bit. Eden is a classic problem up crimps with a long move in the middle. It's on the right side of a boulder and faces the road.

Godsend V9/10 **, Kill List V12 ***, Dance with the Devil V7 ***
10 min uphill from rt. sign you will arrive at a nice black pocketed boulder home to a highball Dance with the Devil V7 (like wind below with a worse landing) and Kill List to the right of Dance with the Devil. The climb to the left is a project? On your way you’ll pass a V5ish thing and if you continue over the first cliff band you’ll arrive at the Godsend V9. Godsend is also said to be 1000 yds above Eden.

Gentleman’s Project V11 ****, Black Out V12/13 **
To get to the Gentleman’s Project V11 and Blackout V12/13, which are on the same boulder, park at The Angler and walk down the road (up river) about 100yds to a small pullout on the left. Across the street is a small cairn. Follow the well worn trail for about 8 minutes up the hill to an obvious overhanging face. There seem to be other moderate problems around as well. Gentleman’s Project is on the big boulder with a big gaston move to start. Black Out is a sit start to bad crimps in the corridor past Gentleman’s Project.

Worm Turns sit V12/13
A bit before Smoking Joe and Riverside areas. On right side in low cave.

RIGHT FORK

Finger Hut Direct V13
Climb the first moves of Finger Hut and then continue straight up.

Afterthought V9 **
On a square looking boulder about 10 minutes up the hill from the Warm Up boulder described in the guidebook. Start with two sidepulls. Move to a lefthand sidepull and then dyno for the lip. A hard project is to the right.

Hydrogenated Oils V11?
Right of No additives. Obvious start on jugs and then up shallow mono pockets.

Battletoads V10 **, Playmate of the Year V9
There is a large parking area on the right about .25 miles past No Additives. From here, follow a newly marked trail up an old road grade. When the grade ends after 200yds or so, head up hill to a fairly obvious cluster of boulders. In this cluster lies Playmate of the Year V9, which faces down canyon and very nearby is Battletoads V10, a short but quality arete on perfect black rock.

Black #1 aka Brenda V12
This beautiful block is located just past Dairy Canyon on the left side of the road, 20 ft from the road. Faint white streak through horizontals. This boulder is about 10 minutes up the right fork after the road turns to dirt (maybe 4 or 5 miles).

Dairy Canyon V10/11
Presumably a bit before Black #1.

UNKNOWN

The Zodiac V12 ***

Fiery Furnace v10

Death Scream v10

Barney Rubble v10

Smoken Direct v10

VIDEOS:

Black Dahlia V10
http://vimeo.com/8144967

Masterpiece V13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGwdAjqbzI (Mike McClure)
http://vimeo.com/4228114 (James Litz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxkCCOsfqQ (Anthony Chertudi)
http://vimeo.com/7457432 (Carlo Traversi)

God Send V9/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxkCCOsfqQ

Eden V10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MgK4_foOBg&feature=related
http://vimeo.com/7363495

Skeleton Key V11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfbqFeD72oQ&feature=related

Afterthought V9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaYoctxheqc

Prince of Thieves V11
http://climbingbum.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-in-joes-valley.html

Ghost King V11
http://vimeo.com/7444933

Battletoads V10
http://vimeo.com/4226249

Playmate of the Year V9
http://vimeo.com/7363495

Outdoor climbing -- What's that?

2010-03-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

I've been cooped up climbing mostly in the gym due to bad weather and lots of work. In fact, I don't think I got outside once in the month of February! The weather is changing though and I have some fun climbing coming up in the near future.

Last weekend the weather finally was nice and I got out to Clear Creek Canyon for a day of climbing at the Wall of the 90s. I wasn't feeling super energized, but threw myself at one of the classics of the wall "Interstellar Overdrive" 5.13d. It took a bit to figure out the moves on the first go but after a while I had a sequence figured out. I lowered down to the midway rest and then TRed to the top clean. After some lunch and a long rest, I gave it a redpoint burn. I was somewhat pumped in the middle and not very optimistic, still I kept climbing through the crux moves. My fingers went numb, but I kept going move to move and I found myself at the end of the crux on a decent hold. Unfortunately, I was completely pumped and I couldn't feel my fingers. I had finished all the hard moves, but I couldn't hold on any longer and fell after my feet cut right before trying the last move. Couldn't have been closer. It was a bit of a bummer to fall so high. Still I was psyched that I got that far because I wasn't expecting much. Hopefully I'll get out soon to wrap up that project.

The big news is that spring break is in a week and a half. This means that I've got a good solid 10 days of outdoor climbing ahead of me. I've been training a bit in the gym and feel pretty strong. The plan is to go to Joe's Valley, but I've heard that the left fork is covered in snow. If it looks unclimbable there, I'll probably hit up Moe's Valley instead. Either way, I'll find some place to crank. Joe's would be the best because there are lots of new problems there I'm psyched to try. I especially want to try Masterpiece V13. This problem looks cool, hard, and a bit scary. Lots of others too. Can't wait, but I have to because I've got lots of work to do between now and then... work that I should be doing instead of writing this blog post.

Check out this site that has a lot of motivating photos and info about Joe's:

http://www.atxarteclimbing.com/

Here's a video of Masterpiece. This looks like the beta I'll use though I may see if a heel hook is possible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGwdAjqbzI

Also, I got my first round of new threads from Mountain Hardware and am really psyched on them so far. Lots of nice stuff.

Coming soon to a theater near you

2010-03-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

So it sounds like Chuck Fryberger is finished editing his new film "Core". I worked with him a lot for this film and it should have some good clips of me including footage of Cheating Reality and the Bandersnatch. I'm really excited for the premiere of the film which will be on April 7th at the Boulder Theater. I have a trailer here for you to watch. I'm sure you'll recognize right away that the quality is top level and that the whole film is going to be a visual feast. Check this out:

In other news, you may have noticed that the logos have changed a bit in my blog title bar. As of today, I'll be part of the Mountain Hardwear climbing team. I'm really excited to be partnering with this company that makes very high quality gear and clothing. I enjoyed working with the North Face over the past 3 years and will continue to think highly of their great line of products. I chose to make the switch primarily because I believe the goals and aspirations of Mountain Hardwear are more closely aligned with my personal climbing goals. I know my climbing will benefit from Mountain Hardwear's support and I'm sure that the company will find value in my promotion of their product. I'm very enthusiastic about this new opportunity and am confident that this will be a great relationship that extends far into the future.

You my have also noticed that the Clif logo is missing from my title bar. I am no longer sponsored by the company. I suppose they dropped me though communication was not very clear. It seems that Clif's primary focus is on endurance sports and as a consequence places less emphasis on marketing to the climbing community. They are a great company that makes excellent and tasty energy bars and I will continue to use their product though now I will have to pay for it. I'm open to developing a relationship with other companies that make energy products if they think it will benefit their product.

Daniel Woods got the Solution

2010-02-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

Joe Kinder put together this short on Daniel. He asked me to put it on the blog, so here it is.

Daniel Woods Loves the Solution from La Sportiva on Vimeo.

Stefan on Mangum

2010-01-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

As promised, in short order, here's a video of one of the ABC kids, Stefan. He's climbing crimpy V9 Mangum.

Stefan Lavender on Mangum from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

The Bandersnatch

2010-01-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

I've been back in Boulder for a few days and have been lagging in summing up my Hueco trip. It's always the same, I get back into town and have tons of things I need to get done and always school work or research to do. Anyway, the short news is that I sent the project I was working on.

I named the route The Bandersnatch after a character in in Jabberwocky poem in Lewis Carroll's "Through the looking glass." This is also the name of my dad's sail boat and so this name is a bit of an homage to him. It's not really clear what a bandersnatch is, but they're presumably tough characters that deserve respect and a bit of fear.

This new problem is a good candidate for the list of hueco classics with its varied movement, length, ground level location, and striking feature. Like the mythical bandersnatch, this problem warrants some fear mainly because an unplanned fall from one of the several heel hook moves could result in an unpleasant tumble down the slab behind the climb. Mostly, though, the climbing is safe.

Chuck Fryberger got some great footage of the problem for his new film "Core" which will be out sometime this spring. Here's one video still that I pulled from his blog.

This is the move that takes you into the crux part. From a wide span, you heel hook next to your right hand and reach far up the arete to an edge (the one I'm grabbing in the photo). Then you have to bring your left hand into a little two-finger pocket, move the right hand to a small crimp, and then readjust the feet without losing tension. All that sets you up for a delicate dynamic move to a good hueco. From there you have to do a 6 move boulder problem that is about V8 and then an easy, classic topout.

Andy Mann got some cool photos too but might be saving them for print somewhere. If I can get his go ahead, I post some of the b shots here.

Difficulty: I'm thinking that V12 is probably a good grade for this problem but it's a bit hard because I haven't been bouldering other graded stuff recently. The problem took me 4 or 5 days to complete. Based on how long it has taken me to do other problems, that could suggest that the problem is more in the V13 range. Still I think V12 might be more accurate. I'm psyched to hear what other people think. It may be the case that the problem fit my style of climbing as well.

Here's another view of the line shot while I was brushing the holds on the first day.

For anyone intersted in finding the problem, it is on west mountain at ground level right near the wall of the rumbling rabbits which is in the guide. It's hard to miss if you walk around that area a bit. It's on the upside of a ground level boulder.

The other news from my Hueco trip is that I got to climb a bunch with the ABC kids team from the Boulder Rock Club. I also got some cool footage of their amazing accomplishments and hopefully will be posting some videos here soon.

Hueco

2009-12-29T15:33:00.000-08:00

I'm down in Hueco right now and taking a rest day while the 2 inches of snow that fell last night melts. Yesterday I took a tour out with some of the kids from the ABC group at the Boulder Rock Club. It was inspiring to climb with those kids. They are so positive, super strong and confident, and have tons of fun. The highlight was watching Sean Rabatou climb a problem called Mangum -- V9 at age 11 and height probably just over 4 ft is super impressive.

Since I've been down here, I've been mostly just going on tours in the backcountry. My main goal is to find some new lines that are really cool. On other trips, especially last year, I was more focused on repeating established lines. This year, I'm psyched for new things. It's lots of fun to explore here. I found one line that I'm especially psyched on and have tried a bit. It's a 25ft arete with a slab that behind it at just the right distance so you can step off onto it but it doesn't get in your way when climbing. I've figured out all but one move on the problem and it has some crazy beta. I think it'll be a classic if it goes down. Here's one picture that doesn't really do it justice. If it goes, I'll probably try to get some better photos and perhaps some video.

Cheating Reality Video Shoot

2009-12-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went back up to Cheating Reality with Chuck Fryberger to capture some video of my new route. I'm really psyched because I think we killed it. It's so beautiful up there and the climbing moves are so interesting that we couldn't go wrong. Still, judging from the few stills I've seen and Chuck's impression, we got some amazing stuff. I can't wait to see the whole footage.

This footage will go into a new film Chuck is making and planning to release this coming Spring (2010). It sounds like he's got lots of other sick footage so I'm sure the video will be great. He also has an amazing camera that is movie studio quality. He and I are planning to do more shooting over the next month and a half to put together a section that profiles me as a climber and as an individual. I'm psyched to be working with him. Check out his blog to see some of the other filming he's been up to: http://www.chuckfryberger.blogspot.com/

For now you'll have to do with a few single frames from the video that will come out in the Spring. It'll be worth the wait for the real deal though, I'm sure. Just check out this amazing perspective!!!

Agonizingly Close

2009-11-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

So I'm down from the wall now and back in Boulder. I had fun up on the route but didn't manage the send. I did come about as close as possible though.

After redpointing the lower crux on Saturday, Sandy and I hiked to the base with all our gear on Sunday and hauled everything to the top of pitch 3. Early the next morning, I lowered down and worked the crux of pitch 3 (hard 12d). Sandy came down to the belay and I redpointed the pitch first try. We broke camp and then I started up on the next pitch (12a). I had done it years ago on TR, but didn't really remember anything. I decided to go for it pseudo-onsight rather than working the moves first. It took lots of patience figuring out the route because the first section meanders a lot before you get to the crack. I pulled it off though and then did the heavy haul. Pitch 5 goes at 12b and I remembered that it was a bit tricky at the end. I didn't want to waste the energy for a solid onsight try knowing that I could blow it right at the end, so I climbed it first taking rests at every few pieces. I got to the top and lowered down. With most of the beta figured out and the gear sussed, I sent on my next try. At this point, I was a bit tired from the climbing and hauling and decided to aid the next pitch (12c) to save more energy. Once I got to the top, I lowered down and worked it on TR. By the time I got back to the top of the pitch, it was almost dark, so I decided to haul the bag and set up camp -- leaving the redpoint for the next morning.

Hiking the final load up to the base

A scary load indeed!

On Tuesday morning, I first tried some of the moves on the second crux of the route, pitch 7 (13+). This pitch is a 12c thin traverse to a really tough vertical boulder problem on tiny holds. I tried the crux moves a bit trying to remember the sequence I had figured out in the past. After a few tries, a key crystal on one of the crimps crumbled and I didn't think I could do it using the same beta. Luckily, I figured out a slightly different way that wasn't significantly harder. Confident that I had a sequence, I came back to the bivy and lowered down to prepare for a redpoint of the lower pitch. To my surprise, the crack had seeped over night and was unclimbable. So instead, I headed back out the traverse of pitch 7 to try to understand the crux moves even more. After a few tries, the sun came around the corner and I was forced to quit. The rest of the day was mostly spent chilling on the portaledge. At the end of the day, Sandy and I lowered to the bottom of pitch 6 and I redpointed it.

Not much for the hands and tiny feet on the 12c section of pitch 7

Spending a rest day in style

My hope was to redpoint the next pitch Wednesday morning and make it to the final collection of hard pitches that evening. I was confident that I could do the rest of the climb if I could complete pitch 7 because everything else was 5.12 and below except for one 13a bouldery crux move which I had done in the past. Early in the morning, I gave a go at pitch 7. I climbed through the 12c, which was a harsh warmup, and then rested at a no-hands stance for a bit. Then I launched into the crux. I got near the end, but my hand popped off the crimp as I was preparing for the finish moves. I suspected that I crumbled a little part of the crimp, but wasn't completely sure. I tried the move a few times to make sure I could still do it the same way. Then I gave another try, but things went wrong. The moves are so technical and require such a high degree of precision that it's so easy for something little to go wrong. On my third try, I found myself staring down the final hold before things get easier. I only had the crimp with two fingers and the foot I was standing felt bad. I had to make a quick decision: go for the hold now, or try to get things in better position first. I chose to go for the hold and slapped the edge of it just as everything popped off. Unfortunately, I didn't stick it. I couldn't believe how close I had been and kept questioning if I made the right decision. When I got back to the belay, I realized that this attempt had left me with a blood blister at the top of my pointer finger and middle finger on the hand that holds the key crimp. Not good... I drained the blisters and gave one more attempt for the day but didn't come as close. I spent the rest of the day again sitting on the portaledge and making sure the blisters didn't fill back up. I figured I could give another good go the next morning.

My fingers after draining the blood blisters

On Thursday morning, I gave a few more tries but didn't come as close as the previous day. Hindered by bad skin and tired muscles, things just didn't feel as good. I could still do the crux in two overlapping sections, but it just wasn't clicking. I conceded for the day and then had to make the hard decision to go down. It was difficult because I knew I could do this move as well as the rest of the route and I had worked hard to get to this point. Still, the forecast for the next days was grimmer calling for higher winds and perhaps a snow storm. Additionally, I needed to be back in Boulder by Sunday. If the weather had been perfect, I probably would have had enough provisions to wait another day at this point and still climb the rest of the wall. It just wasn't right though and my psyche and confidence had faded.

I really wanted to succeed on the route, but I guess I'll just have to come back to it. Here's a photo of pitch 7 that will hopefully inspire me to get back soon. Can't deny that it is a beautiful place to climb. I just hope more holds don't break before my next attempt.

Surprise

2009-11-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

So I had a pleasant surprise yesterday. I redpointed the first pitch which is a tough 12c for the first time. Then I started out on the second pitch. It was definitely a bit colder and there were some clouds which shaded the wall at times. Conditions felt better, but still not perfect. I was planning to try to link into the crux dyno to see how it felt from the start. I wasn't really serious about redpointing the pitch because I knew there was a move past the crux that I hadn't remembered how to do on my previous attempt. I did the first two cruxes and then pulled the last crux that leads to a good pod before the dyno. I rested at the pod for a while and then set up into the small crimps and bad feet that you jump from. Everything felt pretty good so I lunged to the left and to my surprise, stuck the hold. All of a sudden, I realized that I could redpoint the pitch right then. I was worried and nervous about the moves ahead which were still a bit unfamiliar. I took my time though, milked the rests, and somehow made it to the better slopey holds at the end of the pitch. At this point, I wanted to get to the end so badly that all technique went out the window and I grovelled my way to the jugs at the top of the pitch. I was so surprised that it was hard to believe that I had just done it. I really wasn't expecting this. I thought maybe I would have a chance in the morning shade when conditions were better, but in the afternoon sun? I guess things just came together well and I got a little lucky.

After a little rest, I went up on the third pitch (12d) to refresh the sequence. I came back down and prepared for a redpoint. I made it through the first half of the pitch just as dusk rolled in and as I rested at a good stance in the middle, everything became dark. I switched on my headlamp and gave a go at the crux section of the pitch. Only a few moves in, I was doing a technical foot move and couldn't see or feel the foot hold I was supposed to use. My other foot slipped and I was off. I gave up for the evening and came down to the valley floor to collect all the gear for spending a bunch of days on the wall.

I'm heading up there today soon and will haul all my gear up and spend tonight on the wall. Tomorrow morning, I'll give the third pitch another go and hopefully send first go. Then I'll try to climb the next three pitches (12a, 12b, 12c) and set up bivy before pitch 7 -- the next major 13+ crux. From there it all depends on how I feel and whether or not luck favors me. Hopefully I can sneak out a redpoint of pitch 7 on the next morning and then cruise up to the final cruxes on the route. I'll have enough gear to spend about 5 days up there so hopefully I can get it done. It'll definitely be tough though.

Here's the video of me climbing Midnight Lightning V8 a few days ago. It's not the best quality and is a bit squat for some reason, but no time to fix it now, got to get on the wall. Psyched!

Midnight Lightning from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Yosemite Update

2009-11-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

I've been in Yosemite for about a week now and the weather has been amazing. In fact, it's been so nice that it's been a bit too warm on Lurking Fear. I've worked the crux pitch three days now and am trying it again this afternoon. On the first day, I spent most of my time searching the rock for the minute holds on the crux 2nd pitch. I figured out most of the moves, but left some for later. My second day up there was pretty much a wash. I went up pretty early in the morning hoping that the route would still be in the shade because it's on the west side of El Cap. Unfortunately, the route is in the sun all day long this time of year because the sun is so low. I tried some of the moves on the crux pitch, but it was so hot that I was worried I'd slice my fingers to shreds. So I came down and did a bit of bouldering instead. The bouldering conditions were so amazing that I started wondering if I was doing the wrong thing focussing on a bigwall route. On my third day on the route, I came up late planning to do most of my climbing after dark -- strange to be doing that in November in Yosemite. I made progress on the crux pitch doing some long links and coming close to sticking the crux sideways dyno. The dyno is a bit harder now because a key hold that you used to dyno from broke. It still goes though and probably isn't too much harder. Hopefully today I'll get more links and stick the crux move a few times.

On Sunday, I'll head up there, haul the first three pitches and stay the night at the base. Then Monday morning, I'll have a last ditch effort at redpointing the crux pitch. I'm not too optimistic that it will go because the climbing is very technical and delicate and it's easy to make a mistake. Plus it will be difficult to keep my skin good and my feet from hurting throughout the whole pitch. Even if I don't redpoint the second pitch, I'll still climb the rest of the route and try to do most everything else free. If I do manage to pull off the 2nd pitch, I'll still have lots of hard climbing to the summit including the other crux pitch which could prove to be more desperate (though it is shorter). In either case, it should be a fun outing and the weather looks perfect.

I'm psyched.

Unfortunately, I don't have any interesting photos from the wall. I have a short low-quality video of me repeating Midnight Lightning that I'll try to put up tomorrow before I get on the wall.

Yosemite Bound... I hope

2009-11-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

So my next big plan is a trip to Yosemite for the last two weeks of November. I'm really psyched to have a go at freeing Lurking Fear, a 20 pitch 13+ route on the left side of El Cap. Unfortunately, the weather there is pretty unpredictable this time of year. If it looks like a storm system is passing through around then, I'll have to abandon my plans and head to Bishop or some other place. I'll be going with my girlfriend Sandy and this will be our first wall together.

I've climbed the route in its entirety twice (both one-day ascents). I've also spent some time working the free pitches and had the first 6 pitches fixed for a bit. The main difficulty boils down to two sections: a hard slab pitch early on with a crazy sideways dyno and the 7th pitch which has a very hard technical boulder problem at the end of the traverse. The rest of the climb is mostly 5.12 and below, though there may be one or two other 5.13- pitches. I've done all the moves on the route so I think I have a chance of sending if the weather cooperates. Either way, the climbing up there is really high quality so I'm guaranteed to have fun.

I really need to start climbing more routes if I want to be in the correct shape for this climb. Not that two weeks is really enough time to get fully in shape. All in all though I feel in good shape so I'm not too concerned about training.

Lurking Fear is the left most route in this picture

Check out this really cool site (unfortunately you can't see the route because it is around the left edge of the wall):

http://www.yosemite-17-gigapixels.com

Celebration

2009-10-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: If you are only interested in my climbing exploits, read no further.

Tonight I had a celebration dinner for my ascent of Cheating Reality. I'm mainly writing this post to give props to my super good friend Noah because he hooked me up with an amazing bottle of wine as a celebration gift. This bottle, Caymus 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, is currently one of his favorites... and now is one of mine. Thanks Noah.

Noah Kaufman

Inspired by this good wine, I wanted to cook a meal that was worthy to be shared with the wine. If you don't know already, cooking is one of my hobbies. I decided to do Filet Mignon stuffed with a wild mushroom pate drizzled with a red wine reduction. I served brocollini on the side to give a freshness to balance the meal. All told it came out great. The wine was phenomenal --- extremely chewy with strong berry tastes mixed with mocha at the front, powerful tangy tannins in the middle and a smooth long lasting finish. Really enjoyable! The meat was local Colorado beef and was amazing. My best bit came late in the dish when I was hit with the acidity of the reduction quickly followed by the rich creamyness of the pate and then the full flavor and texture of the beef. A great meal to celebrate a great climb. Below are two photos of the meal.

Hope you don't mind the non-climbing / personal post.

-Matt

Cheating Reality

2009-10-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I completed a project that I'd been working on all fall. This is the one I mentioned in the previous post.

This line is amazing! I'm so psyched to have completed the first ascent.

The route climbs the North Face of the Devil's Thumb in the Boulder Flatirons. For those of you familiar with the Flatirons, this is the incredible overhanging face that is visible from most places in town. The Devil's Thumb feature protrudes from the ridge at an angle creating a dramatic big overhanging face on the uphill side. The route had been done partially as an aid route many years ago. There was some fixed gear leading to two old 1/4 inch bolts about 2/3 up the wall. Nothing else on this overhang has even been attempted.

Devil's Thumb
(my route is just around the corner from the left arete)

The route involves face climbing to a obtuse technical corner with a thin seam. This seam ends at the old aid anchor. From here there is a blank bulging wall that leads to a slightly overhanging headwall. The bulge has one crimp that is used to generate an improbable leftward dyno to a sloper at the top of the bulge. Stuck in an iron cross compression between the sloper and the crimp, I have to swing my feet up high and left to hook a jug that allows me to pull my body farther left to grab better holds. There is a decent rest here and then a final powerful and crimpy boulder problem section. In classic form, the route ends with a mantle onto the slab that leads to the summit of the formation.

Though the route had some fixed gear, I decided to lead it completely on natural protection. This made the route a bit scarier, but also more clean. The first section (up to the end of the aid route) requires some 5.12a R (maybe R/X) climbing in the first 40ft. Then the gear gets better. The route's crux move is well protected by two adjacent pieces. After the crux you get some gear before embarking on the headwall but it's a bit marginal. The final headwall crux (which is about V7) is done with your feet about 5ft above the marginal gear which is about 7ft above the good gear --- definitely a bit scary. Because of the inherent danger, I decided to take a headpointing approach to this route. Prior to my ascent I did it twice on TR and did it in overlapping sections other times. I also had one lead attempt where I fell at the crux because a foot hold crumbled a bit.

I decided to call the route "Cheating Reality" for several reasons. First, I knew that any play on "Devil's Thumb" would inevitably be cheesy. Second, the crux dyno move seems impossible at first and when you finally stick it for the first time, you feel like you've cheated reality. Third, the gear was a bit scary and by not falling on the route, you are cheating reality. And finally because I feel like I have cheated reality by getting to do the first ascent of this amazing feature right outside of Boulder, the climbing capital of the US.

As for the grade, I'm suggesting 5.14a R. It's difficult to rate a route like this because it's bouldery and heady, so it'll be nice to get other opinions down the line. The climbing stacks up like this. 5.12a R climbing to a good jug rest. Then a 10ft. technical 12b/c section leads to good jugs but bad feet. This position is good enough to stop for a while to place gear and compose yourself, but is taxing enough that you can't treat it as the kind of rest you camp out at (at least I can't with my endurance). Then you launch into the crux which is really a five move sequence. As a boulder problem this feels like V10. After the crux you get a decent rest where you can relax a bit and prepare for the end section, though again, you can't stay there for ever. The final moves take you to a big undercling and then a small right hand crimp. From this crimp you have to dyno left to the slopey arete/lip of the wall. You climb up a few moves and then mantle over. This final headwall is probably about V7 (maybe V8) with most of the difficulty focussed on the move to the lip.

The rock quality on this route is for the most part really good and the climbing is varied (intricate, technical corner moves mixed with thuggy dynos on crimps and slopers). The location of the Thumb is extraordinary and the bottom of the route has a perfect flat rock to chill at. All in all this is a world class route. The bouldery nature of the climb appeals to me though others who prefer more consistent routes will probably find it a fault. I think it will be a Front Range classic for sure and I'm hoping that others will go out and try it. Don't let the 1h 15min hike deter you --- it is totally worth it.

For this ascent I had a webbing anchor hanging from gear at the top of the route. I'm planning to put in an application to replace the existing anchor (including moving it to the top of the route). I'm also planning to remove the fixed gear on the route which I feel is unecessary including: 1 head, one knifeblade, two old 1/4 inch bolts, and one 1/4 bolt without a hanger. If anyone knows who put this gear in and how to get in touch with them, I'd like that info. It would be nice to get his/her opinion before changing the route. Though removing this gear will make the route more dangerous, it will also make it more pure. The route can be done without any fixed gear so it seems to me that it should always be done that way. Ultimately, the real difficulty in the route comes above the old aid anchors where the only choice was natural gear (given the current Flatirons bolting restrictions). Since that is the style up there, I think it should also be the style down below. Finally, it's my impression that the former aid route has had very little attention over the years and so very few people will be affected by the change. In fact, it will still be aidable though perhaps a bit more spicy.

Here are some photos that Andy Mann shot of me on the route. These are outtakes. Hopefully you'll see some of the best images in print somewhere. I'm also hoping to capture some video of the route soon. I think video will truly do the line and the feature justice.

Working the crux on TR
(this view doesn't show the angle of the wall well)

The rest just after the crux

Climbing the seam in the corner

A Short Trip

2009-10-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone in internetlandia. I've been consumed with school work since my trip to Canada and haven't had many interesting things happening on the climbing front. That said, I'm hoping that things will start picking up even though October is going to be a busy month for me.

Most of the climbing I've been doing is on a trad project around Boulder. I'm really psyched on the route and hopefully it will go down soon. I've done it on TR twice and have come close to a redpoint. The lead is a bit heady so I've only had one go on it. Right now the weather is terrible in Boulder so it doesn't look like I'll be able to get back on it soon. Hopefully things will clear up next week and I'll get out there and fire it. I'll definitely post more info when I do it. In the mean time, I've been just climbing a bit indoors and around to stay in shape.

Last weekend I took a trip to Moab, UT and had a great time. It was really nice to be in the desert and the weather was perfect for climbing. I went out there with my girlfriend Sandy and met up with some other friends there. On Saturday we climbed in Indian Creek at the Reservoir wall. This was my first time to this cool crag. The highlight of the day for me was climbing Less Than Zero 13-. Often I get a bit bored with the monotony of Indian Creek splitters, but this climb was super varied. Most of the the hard parts involved off balance liebacking on changing corners. I hung my way up the route on my first go, worked some sections on TR on my second go and led it clean on my third go. At the end of the day I did the classic Slot Machine 11+ which is tight hands and hands in a acute corner forever. The line is super aesthetic, but definitely on the repetitive side.

After a day in Indian Creek, Sandy and I took off to Mill Creek for a change of scenery. I'd never climbed there and so was super excited. The routes are on the short side and tend to be bouldery. It was pretty cold when we started the day but then conditions became perfect. I climbed Sinister 12c as a final warmup and then tried The Bleeding 14a. This climb was really cool and I did all the moves except a hand switch and a foot movement. It felt like it could go with some more effort, but not in the one day I had. At the end of the day I tried Tiki Man 13c and surprised myself doing it second try. That climb is really fun and I highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Mill Creek.

Unfortunately I don't have any climbing photos or video but here are a few photos from the trip.

Weather coming into Indian Creek on the day we left.

Sandy fixing some breakfast before leaving for Mill Creek.

Beautiful camp site near Mill Creek

The aspens were beautiful at 8000ft. this time of year.

Definitely a pretty area.

Path Video

2009-08-12T23:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the video. The goal in making this was to document the whole climb. As a result, it's not quite as action packed as the modern climbing films that usually just give a general impression of routes. Unfortunately the raw footage is not the best -- the lighting conditions were bad, the filming angles were difficult, and there was lots of background noise. Anyway, I did my best to edit something together that shows what the climb is about. I think the side and back angles don't do justice to the steepness of the climb, but hopefully the top down footage tells that story.

Hope you enjoy.

The Path from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Path video on the way

2009-08-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

I'm editing the footage I have of me on the Path and will try to post it later tonight. I'm leaving for a week trip where I'll be away from internet access so I want to get it out before then. Until later, here's a still from the video footage. This is the crux move.

My Path Experience

2009-08-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

The Path climbs up the center of a steep, tall, intimidating wall at the back of the lake crag at Lake Louise. It was established by Sonnie Trotter 2 years ago in traditional style and was given 5.14 R. It has seen one repeat by Ethan Pringle last year. The gear is sparse and small, but the falls are mostly clean. The wall is covered with beautiful streaks and the climbing follows perfect well-spaced edges. There are several hard sections throughout the route with some ok rests between. The crux moves come near the end when you're quite tired. The route tackles the wall above an existing 5.11a sport route.

As you can see in the next two photos, Lake Louise is an idyllic location. Unfortunately many people know this and so it's also very touristy. The back of the lake crag can be seen in the first photo... at, well, the back of the lake. The lake is truly this color too, no fancy photoshopping here.

The next photo gives a route overview of the route though the scale and angle of the wall is a bit distorted. The whole length of the climb (from the ledge at the top of the 5.11a pitch) is about 70ft, 60 of which you can see in this picture. The gear labeled on this photo is all the gear I used for the whole climb. There were one or two other potential placements, but they wouldn't have changed the runouts much. At the ledge below the bottom of the photo, I placed two equalized pieces as well.

Here's a photo of me on the opening moves just before the first piece of gear. This is probably the most dangerous move on the route because you are far from your last piece and could actually hit the ledge if you fell. All other falls should be clean. My right hand is on a small slopey crimper and I'm about to stab into a good horizontal crack.

In approaching this route, I decided to do a few things different than Sonnie and Ethan. Both of these guys essentially soloed the 5.11a sport route to get to the ledge at the base of the main face. In a way this makes sense because then you are climbing the center of the wall from bottom to top. I was more psyched however to climb the 5.6 corner about 8ft. to the left that also led to the same ledge. I soloed this corner and then placed two pieces equalized at the ledge. You can just barely see that gear at the bottom of the photo above. You can also see a rope threaded through the anchors at the top of the 11a. The main reason I decided to take this approach is that I was having a hard time getting myself psyched to go for the route knowing that I would have to solo the 11a each time. I don't think it really changes the difficulty of the route because you get a no-hands rest at the ledge before the upper headwall. The upper part of the route is what really inspired me so I chose to make that the sole focus by just climbing the 5.6 to get to the start.

The other thing I did differently is that I climbed a slightly new way at the very end of the route. The crux moves are a sequence of hard leftward traversing moves on slopey crimps. They lead you to a good lieback hold where you can get back some of your strength. From here, Sonnie and Ethan climbed straight up to a jug at the top of the face where you can clip a set of anchors. The rock quality in this section seemed a bit dubious to me. There were several blocks that seemed to be just sitting on the little ledges. The first time I set up on that anchor, I nearly knocked a huge block on my belayer that could have been fatal. I think that experience spooked me a bit and made me less psyched to climb through that section. Then I realized there was a way to climb back to the right and finish straight up the end of a black streak to an anchor slightly to the right. I got psyched on this finish because the rock seemed more solid and also because at the end you can actually mantle onto the slab for the full no-hands rest. So when I sent the route, I took this right finish variation. The moves on both variations are roughly the same difficulty so I don't think this changes the full difficulty of the route at all.

All in all, I was really psyched on the ascent. It was a difficulty challenge to get myself to the point of redpointing this route. At first I was very intimidated by the wall and hesitant to take on such a big project. As I got to know the moves better on TR, I realized that I was physically able to do the climb. Then it took a while to wrap my head around actually going for it. I spent 4 days trying it on TR. Then I had two days where I tried it on lead once per day. The first day, I just went piece to piece to familiarize myself with being on the sharp end. The second day I gave a full redpoint attempt and nearly sent, but popped off the last hard move and took a 35ft. whipper onto a gray Metolius master cam. Exciting! On the 7th day I sent on my first try. All in all, I probably took about 7 TR and 3 lead burns. Because the route is so long and involved, I couldn't try it much each day. As for a grade, I think probably 14a or 14b -- with an R for a danger rating.

It was a great experience and a great culmination to my month long trip in the Canadian Rockies. I'm resting today and will give one more attempt at Existence Mundane 14b tomorrow before I leave to head back to Boulder. I tried the route yesterday and linked through the lower crux twice. I definitely feel close so hopefully the stars will line up and I'll get to eat my cake too.

Thanks and props to you for reading this far down on quite a long-winded post.

I Found The Path!

2009-08-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening I sent the Path, a 14a trad route at Lake Louise. I had put a bunch of days into the climb and was super excited to send. I'll post more info and video soon, but right now I'm heading up to Acephale to get back on my projects there.

Canada Climbing

2009-07-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty uneventful since my last post. I'm still up in the Canmore area. I climbed the 13c I was trying (Army Ants) but haven't really done anything else.

I was up at Lake Louise for the past three days and I tried the Path again. This was exciting because I figured out the rest of the moves and had some good links on TR. I'm definitely more psyched about the climb now and am committed to doing it. I'll probably start giving lead attempts the next day I try it. It's definitely going to be a bit scary so it make take some tries to get my head in the right space to be fully going for it. I think it should be mostly safe though. Hopefully the weather cooperates. It's hot right now and then it looks like it will rain a bunch soon. I'm worried that the Path will not dry quickly -- it has many black streaks that are obviously from water running down the face. I have a week to two weeks left here so perhaps I'll get some good conditions.

Today I'm heading up to Acephale and will try Existence Mundane some. I've done the lower crux move a few times now, but I still need to get it more solid if I'm going to link through it from the bottom.

Since I don't have any media from this trip, I thought I'd post some footage I have from a weekend trip I made to Colorado Springs this May. I bouldered two days and got some decent footage. The first day was at a place called Thunder. The rock there was amazing -- some of the best stone for bouldering anywhere. Unfortunately there weren't tons of problems. There was one big boulder with a bad drop off landing that had an inspiring arete with a bit of chalk. I got psyched to do this and then I got psyched to climb a line to the right which I think was an FA. Here's video of those two problems.

Thunder Bouldering, CO Springs from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

My Hiatus

2009-07-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's the deal. I climbed a lot this spring and in the process probably neglected my PhD work a bit. When I got back from Rumney, I really needed to kick into gear with this work so I put climbing on the shelf. I did make it up to Mt. Evans a few times, but the weather didn't cooperate too well. Mostly I just worked. My motivation for school work was helped by the warm rainy early summer weather we had in Boulder. I also spent a bunch of my time working on house projects. Part of the drive to get all these things done came from my plans to be on a climbing trip all of July which is what I'm doing now.

I've been up in the Canmore/Banff/Lake Louise area of Alberta climbing routes. I've been here for about a week and a half now. So far the trip has been relatively uneventful so I haven't felt the need to rush to get something posted here. Also I don't have any media to share which I usually like to include. It's hard to get photos and video when you are climbing routes mostly with one partner. Maybe I'll get something before the end of the trip.

I had three major goals for this trip. First, have fun and see a beautiful part of North America that is new to me. Second, check out The Path, a 14a trad route at Lake Louise. And third, do more sport climbing and increase my fitness. I don't really do lots of sport climbing so I thought it would be fun to do some on this trip and push myself on some hard routes.

So far the trip has been a success on all points though I haven't completed any climbs of significance. I tried The Path two days and figured out some beta. I'll probably go back soon and work it some more. I'm not sure if I'll commit to going for the redpoint. The route is really long and the setup is pretty involved. Redpoint attempts will be challenging so I'll probably only try to redpoint if I think I have a high probability of success in a few tries. I'm always wary of taking on a project that could just consume the trip. I felt this way about trying the Cobra Crack last summer though that seemed much harder than The Path.

The sport climbing has been great so far. I've mostly been climbing at a crag called Acephale. It's really stacked with hard routes. My main objective is Existence Mundane 14b. I've tried this route two days now and feel somewhat close. I haven't quite done the crux move, but it comes early and I feel that if I figure out how to do it I'll have a decent chance of redpointing. I've tried a few other routes and am looking forward to giving another redpoint burn on Army Ants 13c. I got on the route twice yesterday and came close on my second go. I'm definitely still just trying to improve my fitness. After not climbing too much, I needed some time to get back into things. Hopefully my next two weeks will be fruitful and I'll have some good news to post here. Sorry again about the lapse in posts.

Mission Accomplished

2009-05-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening I flew back to Boulder. I was very fortunate to have perfect conditions on Monday. Originally I was going to wait till the evening so it was out of the sun, but the weather midday was cloudy and about 55 degrees with a decent breeze. I decided these would probably be the best conditions and so I started warming up around 10am in the boulders. Every so often the sun would poke through and I would get anxious -- worrying that I might miss the perfect conditions, but the weather held through my whole warm up. Once I felt loose and ready to pull on small holds, I headed straight to the Fly. A friend of mine from Boston, AJ, was up at the crag and I was able to get a catch from him after setting up the rope. It was great to pull onto the climb with tough skin that I knew wouldn't slide. I actually messed up the first few moves and even slightly changed my beta on the fly (pardon the pun). Nevertheless, I found myself at my highpoint and this time the toothy gaston actually felt pretty good -- my fingers stayed in place easily instead of sliding down the slope of the hold and I made the cross through move without trouble. I felt strong on the next move and pushed through to the end though slightly nervous about the final moves even though I had done them many times. I was super psyched to do it first try of the day and to have my primary objective for the trip completed. Here is video of the send.

The Fly Send from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

After doing the Fly, I decided to try Cyberblock 13d because someone else was also trying it. They suggested that I try to flash it and I figured why not. The crux is close to the ground and the whole route is relatively short. I went for it and sent first try even though I was climbing very rigid and not relaxed on the upper section. Next I climbed a cool arete route called But Bongo Fiesta 13a. I was close to doing this climb many years ago when I wasn't really a 5.13 climber but never sent. It was fun to do the route.

After these climbs, my friend Phil showed up and tried the Fly a bit (for his warmup). Then we went down to Supernova 14b and he gave me the beta spray-down. I tried the climb and did all the moves but decided not to try any redpoint burns because I felt that I could hurt my shoulder on the crux move.

So we headed down to the Monsters of the Id crag and Phil did Parallel Universe 14a on his second try. I got back on it and figured out a good sequence for the upper part. I did a link from the end of the first boulder problem to the end of the climb and then called it a day.

Yesterday I went back out to the Id, but I was pretty sore from the previous day. I warmed up and then gave Parallel one redpoint burn and fell on the last move. I knew I could do the route but was unmotivated to try again so I stopped climbing, happy with the success of my trip.

Rumney Update

2009-05-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Today I'm hanging out at the Manchester airport. I got a ride here this morning from some other people staying in the campground and am waiting here till later when I'll rent a car and drive back to Rumney. I'm waiting to avoid an extra day charge on the rental. Plus there is internet here and power.

I tried the Fly two days ago and felt even better. I got the same highpoint but felt more solid getting there. I also did the final move three times. All this was pretty good considering it was a bit warm and humid. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold and dry so I'm hoping to put it all together. My skin should be mostly recovered and hopefully won't slide as much on the holds. I'm psyched. If it goes down, I might try Parallel Universe 14a a bit. I tried it once yesterday and did most of the moves. It's a cool climb that would be fun to do.

Here's a video clip of my best attempt of the Fly on my first day.

The Fly 14d (attempt) from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Rumney Day 1

2009-05-14T14:44:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I tried the Fly and it went well. I remembered most of the subtleties of the beta and had a link that was as good as my best attempt in the fall. I have video but it's too slow to upload on this connection. I'll try to post it later. It's raining now and I'm resting. Tomorrow should be good though so I'll get back out on it and hopefully will send.

Off to Rumney

2009-05-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I've got some stuff to put up, but haven't gotten around to it.

I'm heading to Rumney tomorrow and will be there for a week. My main goal is The Fly 14d. I tried it last fall and came very close so I'm hoping it will go down this trip. I probably won't get much internet when there but should have some news and media to post when I get back.

Hueco Video on Momentum VM

2009-04-28T08:11:00.001-07:00

After my February trip to Hueco I edited together a video piece on my trip. It's taken a while, but it's finally up on Momentum Video Magazine. Check it out. It is my first major editing project and I was pretty psyched with how it turned out. In it I climb Diabolic and Terre de Sienne. I also show footage of Andre DiFelice climbing Algerita. Last night's showing of Rocky Mountain Highball was awesome - you should all pick up the DVD when it comes out.

RMHB Premiere Today!

2009-04-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Front Rangers. Don't forget to hit up the Boulder Theater tonight for the premiere of Rocky Mountain Highball. Doors open at 7pm. Click here for more info.

Cache la Poudre

2009-04-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally made my first venture to Poudre Canyon. I have been intrigued by the bouldering there since I moved to Colorado but never made the trip because of the long drive and the relative lack of information. It was nice to finally see some of the boulder problems I had heard about.

I was most psyched on Circadian Rhythm V13 and spent most of my time trying it. At first the moves seemed desperate and the holds were way more slopey than I was imagining when I saw video footage of the problem. Things started going better after I felt more warmed up. Eventually, I figured out all the moves and had one or two good links. The challenge in this problem definitely seems to be linking all the moves together because each one requires lots of tension and power - and these things will drain quickly. I never managed to stick the second move from the start, but I think I'll have a decent chance of doing the problem once I can manage that. I'm definitely psyched to get back on it again soon. Here are two picture of me trying this problem. Below is a picture of I took of my girlfriend Sandy on Scarface V6. (Sandy took the two pics of me).

Rocky Mountain Highball

2009-04-23T09:54:00.001-07:00

This coming Monday (the 27th) is the premier of Rocky Mountain Highball at the Boulder Theater. It's going to be a great film so I highly recommend going if you're in or around Boulder. I'm in the film too. There should be a clip of me climbing Firstborn - the V11 arete I put up in the Flatirons this winter.

Here's the relevant info:

Yama Studio and The American Alpine Club present ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGHBALL.

“Rocky Mountain Highball” is a new climbing film that presents an in depth look into why some climbers push themselves to boulder at the vertical limit. The film documents the many facets of bouldering by interweaving numerous classic climbs in Colorado with interview footage from the leading figures of the climbing world.

Director/Filmmaker Scott Neel, and Yama Studio have brought in a huge cast of world renowned climbers, like Paul Robinson, Mark Wilford, Kevin Jorgeson, Lynn Hill, Daniel Woods, John Sherman, John Gill, Steve Mammen, and Jason Kehl. Having filmed more than 70 climbs with more than 35 athletes, this film proves to be an exciting journey through the world of highball bouldering.

Pre-sale tickets are on sale now at The Boulder Rock Club and The Spot Bouldering Gym for $12. Tickets are $14 at the door and also available at www.BoulderTheater.com. Here is a direct link to the page - http://bouldertheater.com/event_detail.php?id=1067

Please visit www.RockyMountainHighball.com for more info, the official trailer, and interactive cast line-up.

Ads on my blog

2009-04-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd add google ads to my blog to see if I can generate any worthwhile income. Hopefully they don't bother you too much. Support a poor climber / grad student and check out an ad link if it looks interesting.

Black Lung Video

2009-04-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of my attempts and send of Black Lung in Joe's Valley. This is really a great problem, hopefully the video does it justice and gets some psych to everyone.

I forgot to mention it, but La Sportiva has a little article that I wrote about my trip to Joe's on their LIVE website. Check it out at this site under the "Crown Jewel" section:

http://www.sportiva.com/live/

Black Lung Main from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Iron Monkey Update

2009-04-14T07:34:00.001-07:00

Well I've been on Iron Monkey three days since my last post. The first day like many days before was pretty pathetic. I wasn't able to do the dyno move and generally felt pretty weak on those holds.

I spent most of the second day trying crazy different beta for the crux move trying to avoid the dyno. I do this every so often when I'm really frustrated with trying the dyno beta. I had a few sequences that could be possible but probably V14 or harder. Towards the end of the day I put on a new pair of Testarosas and tried the move again with my hand slightly higher on the pinch. For some reason the slight hand change made the body position feel much better and I stuck the move. I rested for a sec and pulled back on and stuck the move again. I tried a third time and nearly missed scraping my hand on the way. It was awesome to stick the move again after so many failed attempts. It felt totally different too - I was all of a sudden way more confident when going for the move because my body was in a better position.

Yesterday I got on the route again and felt even better. I stuck the move 4 times once starting a few moves down. I also climbed from the bottom and hit the hold when I went for the jump. The gear beta involves a tricky nut placement so I spent some time working the placing sequence (which is the trickiest sequence on the whole climb). I think I know what to do now so I just have to get it done. I'm psyched to start giving it serious redpoint attempts though I'm going to make sure I do the move several times each day I go up there so it stays fresh in my memory. Last year I stuck the move a few times and then started going for the redpoint and never stuck the move again till three days ago.

Also, I'm working on a video of my Black Lung ascent and hopefully will post it here soon.

Another Joe's Video

2009-04-07T06:47:00.001-07:00

Here's a video of my friend Siemay Lee trying Wills Afire, one of the best tall V6s in Joe's. Unfortunately I had put my camera away by the time she sent the problem, but here is an edit of some of her attempts.

Today I'm heading out to Iron Monkey and will hopefully have some better luck on it.

Siemay Wills Afire Attempt from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Another trip concluded

2009-04-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

8 hours of driving later, I'm back in Boulder once again making the context shift between climbing and school. And of course catching up on the other random things that need to be done but are never done during a climbing trip.

The trip to Joe's was amazing. I couldn't have really asked for more success. The weather was a bit on the cold side but I managed to climb most of the problems I wanted to climb. It was so great to do all of these classics - the rock in Joe's is very unique and creates near perfect problems.

Two days ago was my last full day. After warming up, I did a fun highball called Baraka V9 on my first try. Then I hung out and watched my girlfriend Sandy climb a cool V6 she had tried previously. Next it was Noah's time to send and he came super close to doing Beyond Life. He fell going for the lip. He's still got another week of climbing there so I'm sure he'll do it.

Baraka V9

At the end of the day I went to try a problem I had seen at the new 8-mile area. It didn't look like it had been done, but you never can be sure. It's near the top of the hill just right of a striking arete that had just been climbed or chalked up on rappel at least. The problem starts in two crimpy pockets and moves up to two worse holds. Then you have you make a big move to a decent edge. From there you climb a 4 star V0 to the high top out. It was super cold when I was trying it and I had to run up and down the hill to stay warm. I did the problem after a few attempts from the start. I'm thinking it's probably V11. I haven't decided on a name yet but two possibilities are Freestyle and White Rabbit following the 8-mile theme. You all should suggest some names and then maybe I'll set up a voting gadget. If anyone knows if this problem has already been done, definitely let me know. Here's a photo of me sticking the crux move.

Yesterday I climbed a bit but didn't feel great and stopped early to get going on the drive. Here's some video of my flash of Beyond Life a few days ago. I have a few more videos that I'll try to upload in the next few days.

Beyond Life from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

(cough) I think I've got the Black Lung

2009-03-30T08:45:00.001-07:00

So yesterday was a rest day and I climbed the two days before. On Friday, the day after my 30th, I went back to Black Lung and did it second try. I barely stuck the third move, all fingers but one popped out, but I managed to get them back in the slopey pocket. Later in the day I went over to the right sign area in the left fork and flashed Beyond Life V10. I was really psyched to flash this one because it has been a goal since I saw the problem about 5 years ago.

On Saturday, I was really sore but climbed anyway because my friends Noah and Siemay had just arrived and were psyched to climb. We went to the right sign area first and I climbed They Call him Jordan V8 with the non dyno beta. Then I did Wind Below V8 which is one of the best problems in Joe's - perfect tall face with fun moves and a challenging top out. After that I tried Man From the Past V11. This problem has a super hard deadpoint to a pocket from two underclings for the first move. It took me a while to figure out how to do this move, but the first time I stuck it I did the problem. At this point I was totally worked but Noah was psyched to check out one more area. So we headed up to the Garden of Eden to look at the problem Eden V10. I rallied my energy for a flash and then was completely done for the day. Noah sent the problem right after me.

Today is my last full day of climbing. I feel fairly rested and the weather looks manageable. I'm psyched to get on a few more things before I have to leave.

My connection is really bad here, but I plan to upload videos of Black Lung and Beyond Life soon.

Belligerent Weather

2009-03-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to an inch of snow on the ground. It was still snowing but the sun was poking through so I was hopeful about climbing. By about 1pm most of the snow was melted so I decided to go out to the boulders. Unfortunately the wind was howling. Hoping that it might be somewhat sheltered I hiked out to Black Lung. When I got there, there was still a sheet of ice on the lip. I knocked off most of the chunks but there was still some left melting slowly in the sun. To my disappointment, the wind was not any calmer here. I decided to try to climb anyway and did a quick, unhelpful warm-up. I got a push through the first two moves and tried the last move a few times. After trying some new ideas that didn't work, I barely stuck the move with my original beta and climbed the top out avoiding the ice. I rested and gave a few goes from the bottom but was freezing cold and unnerved by the wind which was picking up. Finally I threw in the towel and gave up on my hopes of doing Black Lung on my birthday. It's pizza time now and hopefully the forecast is correct in showing that tomorrow and Saturday will be better.

Joe's Part II

2009-03-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today is another rest day. Yesterday I got a lot of mileage in. I started on Black Lung and came really close to doing it (see the video below). I fell going for the third move three times. At the beginning of the day I did that move and the rest of the top out. Hopefully the whole thing will go down tomorrow - my 30th birthday. It would be a good present to do such a classic V13 on my 30th birthday.

Black Lung Attempt from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Later in the day I tried a few problems in the Left Fork. First I tried the moves on Black Out V12/13. I did all the moves but the crux move. The crux is a long move off a bad crimp to another small crimp. It felt really hard and the foot hold you use is kind of awkward because you want to drop your knee but if you do, your foot skates off the hold.

After Black Out I was thinking about trying Gentleman Jack V11. I was a bit tired and thought about waiting to give the problem a try when I was fresher because I wanted to give it a good flash attempt. I was still psyched to climb some so I just tried it anyway. As it turned out, I still pulled off the flash. It was a really fun problem with interesting moves. I almost botched the final moves and was scared for a sec that I'd take a bad fall. Fortunately it all worked out though. Here's a video of me climbing this problem.

Gentleman Jack V11 from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

Joe's Valley

2009-03-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit out of contact recently. Mostly doing school work and climbing little. I was a bit sick the last week and a half and so I was taking it easy before my spring break trip. I did do the final competition last weekend at the Spot gym. It went well. I got third place in the qualifying round (behind Daniel Woods and Paul Robinson) and ended up fifth on the ridiculous finals problem that involved traversing a steep wall with a 15 lb weight vest and then stripping the vest and climbing a really hard three move problem. Anyway, it was a fun comp and good training.

I'm in Joe's Valley now and will be here for another week. I arrived on Saturday and climbed a little bit then and also climbed yesterday. Today is the first rest day. I'm really psyched to do Black Lung V13 and was happy with my progress trying it on Saturday. I did the first move once and also did the second move. I've tried this problem many times over the last 6 years but have never had many back to back days on it so I always forgot my beta. Saturday was my first time ever doing the second move though so I was pretty psyched. I'll probably try it tomorrow morning.

Apart from Black Lung, my main objective for the trip is to repeat a bunch of the classic V9-V11 problems I've never done. One of these is Jitterbug Perfume V10/11. Yesterday I checked this one out and was psyched to give it a flash attempt. I pulled on and everything went pretty smoothly and I pulled off the flash. I came close to falling on the crux move left to the gaston crimp. At first I only stuck it with one finger and had to reel in to get the rest of my pads on the hold. It was definitely a cool problem and I was psyched to flash it. Check out the video of me doing it below. (By the way, Jetterbug Perfume is also a great book by Tom Robbins and I highly recommend that you read it). I'm hoping to give some good flash attempts on some of the other problems around. One in particular that I've wanted to flash for a long time is Beyond Life V10/11. I'll probably get on that one soon. Yesterday I also dod the Hulk Sit V9 which was a unique problem with a cool undercling gaston move. It's definitely nice to be back in this area with really fun problems on cool rock. Stay posted for more news and vids from the trip.

Iron Monkey

2009-03-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been taking it relatively easy since Hueco, resting my skin and muscles and catching up with school work. I did get out to Eldo yesterday and got back on Iron Monkey a 5.14 trad route I've been working off and on for the past year and a half. I was hoping to just crush the crux dyno move feeling strong from my recent bouldering adventures. This was not my destiny though. The move still felt really hard. I came close to sticking the dyno but never latched it. I'll probably get back on it again this week. In two weeks I'm heading to Joe's Valley for a week of bouldering there. I'm hoping that I can do the Iron Monkey before I head there.

I'm sure that this route is very hard for me. I think it really just exploits my weaknesses. Other people have suggested 5.14a but I can't imagine it being easier than 14b. For me, it really feels like it has to be 14c. Of course I have little basis for assigning a route grade. I can only say for sure that the Fly in Rumney which gets 14d would be much easier for me than this climb. In V grades, the whole crux section feels like V13. I've tried this climb for more than 10 days and still haven't linked the first difficult moves into the dyno and I've only done the dyno 4 times. That's probably the longest I've spent on any one pitch or problem. Of course for others, the climb is easier - for example Daniel Woods did the crux move second try.

It's cool to have such a hard project for me though it's sometimes frustrating knowing that it's not as hard for others. I guess this is just the name of the game sometimes and it's good to work on my weaknesses. Hopefully I can overcome the difficulties and finally put an end to this longterm project.

Sent!

2009-03-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

Well I did it on my last day (Saturday). It was the day of the Rock Rodeo and Terre de Sienne was one of the problems on the list for the comp. Algerita, Diabolic, El Techo and others were on the list too. I decided to register for the competition after all figuring that if I did Terre, I would have a good chance of doing well. I warmed up and then got ready to try Terre. Paul Robinson was there as well trying to do it for the comp. While I was getting ready to try, he gave it a few attempts and looked super solid on the first move but fell on the second move. Then I gave it a go and did it on my first try of the day. When I stuck the second hold, my feet cut and I had to hold a tough swing on the bad crimps. I was so energized though from my own psyche and the energy of the people there for the comp that I just wouldn't let go. The rest went casually. It seems like this problem is probably V14. It feels harder than most (perhaps all) of the other problems I've done - though in some ways it's relatively simple. Paul repeated it shortly after I did it.

With Terre done, I got myself into competition mood. Next I did Diaphanous Sea V12 on my first try. Then I went over to Algerita V13. I was looking forward to trying it because I'd never done it and thought I had a good chance. Unfortunately, a key hold broke just before I was about to try. So I gave up on that hope and went and did El Techo V11 first try. Then I went and repeated Diabolic V13 on my first try. After this I went up to Bleeding Brothers V12 with a few people. I watched for a while and then gave two tries. Unfortunately, I had a cut on my pinky that was holding me back and I just wasn't feeling it. After this, I did Chbalanke V11 on my 4th try. Then I did Loaded With Power V9/10 on my second try. At the end of the day, despite being tired, I pulled off Dark Age V11 on my first try. What an amazing day - for sure my best ever. It felt really great to climb so well for a day though my body was pretty worked by the end. This performance was enough to get me second place in the Rodeo. I stayed close to Paul Robinson but he was able to win it in the end with these v points: 14, 13, 13, 12, 12, 11 (though the 11 got 13 points in the comp). A fun day and a great workout.

Now I'm back in Boulder after driving 12 hours straight by myself yesterday. It's nice to be home but I've lots to do to catch up with things - especially at school. The weather looks good this week though so hopefully I'll still get some local climbing in.

Thanks to everyone who followed my Hueco exploits through this blog.

Oh so close

2009-02-26T14:48:00.000-08:00

Got back on Terre de Sienne this morning and came even closer. Here's footage of my attempt. If I had a second longer before my left foot popped, I might have sent. Anyway I've still got one more day to get it done. It looks like Saturday might be a bit cooler too - today was low 80s (though the strong breeze helped things some). Below is a photo from my close attempt the previous day I stuck the move and fell when my right hand blew off the starting crimp. I like how the only thing connecting me to the wall is the horrible crux crimp. It's as if I'm trying to hold the swing even though everything else has come off the wall. Anyone who is familiar with this hold knows how absurd that would be. At least I was trying hard.

warning: may contain bad language

I tried Algerita a bit after Terre and figured out some more beta. Then I did El Techo de los Tres B which has gotten easier since a hold got bigger. I wasn't really expecting to do it but gave a try from the start anyway and everything worked out. It seems like it is now V12 or V11. Not sure. I guess some people have suggested V11 and I could definitely see that. It is probably more classic now as well.

80 plus degrees

2009-02-24T15:19:00.000-08:00

Just finished up a hot day of bouldering. I still managed to get some good burns on my projects though. I hit it early, just after the park opened at 8am. First objective was Terre de Sienne. I warmed up and started getting ready to give it a go. As I was waiting for any sort of breeze to cool my hands a bit, Tim Clifford and gang showed up. I waited a bit longer for the conditions to improve and then decided to give it a go. On my first try, I stuck the first move with three fingers and didn't quite have it good enough to do the next move. My skin started rolling on the small crimp just as I was getting my feet positioned into the drop knee. Still this was the first time I stuck the move so it felt great anyway. I gave a few more burns and came very close to sticking the hold again on a few occasions but it didn't happen. I know I can do it now so I'll just rest tomorrow and get back to it on Thursday - hopefully there will be a bit more wind then. Tim tried it some and came close to sticking the first move.

I got back to the headquarters before 10 and hooked up with Glen and Heather for a tour out to the East Spur. I was psyched to get back out Coeur de Leon V13. My first two goes were ok but I tried slightly different beta which ended up being worse. On my third try, I went back to my original beta and came closer but still fell. On the fourth try, the problem went down. I was psyched to do it because I was pretty sure that I wouldn't get it done and probably wouldn't get back to it on this trip. I was sure that that was my last try as well because it was really cutting the skin on my right pointer finger which is crucial for Terre and my left bicep was hurting from the stressful underclinging. It's great that I managed to pull this one off. If I can only complete Terre de Sienne and Algerita, it will be an amazing trip. As it stands now, I've already had a successful trip and would still be psyched even if I didn't do anything else.

Hopefully the weather improves slightly for my last two days of climbing. I'm prettty sure now that I won't compete in the Rodeo because it will be hot and I will run the risk of hurting myself trying so many hard problems.

Diabolic Sent

2009-02-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

I did Diabolic yesterday! Super psyched. It went down first try from the start after doing the upper moves once. Here is a still from some video footage I got. Hopefully I will edit a piece together from my trip and submit it to MVM.

After Diabolic, I tried Terre de Sienne a few times and felt pretty good but didn't stick the move. Later I tried Algerita a bit - it was too hot to really work it though I was able to figure out some of the moves. I'll definitely try to get back to it if time allows.

Tomorrow morning I'll go to Terre early to give a few tries and then I might go on tour back to Coeur de Leon. Hopefully things will fall into place for me on these projects.

This morning I went out and filmed Andre DiFelice climb Algerita. He worked it yesterday and sent it in a few goes this morning. Watchin him do it motivated me even more to do the problem.

In other news, Nalle and Jon Cardwell put up a new V13 in the East Spur Maze. It's on the same boulder as Glas Roof. Looks like a good problem. I think they called it the Machinist.

Hueco Update

2009-02-21T15:41:00.000-08:00

Hello from Hueco. I'm sitting outside the headquarters using the free internet now. Today is my first rest day. I arrived on Thursday after a tiring drive and climbed some. First I tried Diabolic V12/13 and felt pretty good even though I was a bit disoriented from the drive. I even managed to get a new high point and came agonizingly close to sending the whole thing. I stuck the crux move and fell on the next move which is probably the last hard move. I think it'll go down tomorrow morning if I can get on North Mountain. Here's a video of my best attempt. I also tried Terre de Sienne and felt good on that too. I didn't do the first move but was hitting the hold without too much extra body movement. It will have to be a really precise deadpoint but I think I can do it. I climbed the rest of the problem first try again so I think it really will just come down to that first move.

Yesterday I went on a volunteer tour to the East Spur Maze. I ended up trying Coeur de Leon V13 a bit and came really close to doing it. I fell after the crux on this one too. The problem is in a hole and thus not too aesthetic but the moves are really interesting. I'm psyched to try to get on another tour out there and finish it off. I think it should go down quickly now that I know the beta which is very intricate and convoluted.

Lots of strong climbers are down here now and there were some solid sends yesterday - I'm sure I don't even know about all of them, but for starters, Nalle and Jon Cardwell both did Coeur de Leon and Nalle flashed Full Monty V12. I think this must be the first flash of the Full Monty - definitely a solid effort. Tim Clifford is down here for a bit more than a week and despite the fact that he's getting over the flu, he climbed Algerita V13 yesterday and is close on El Techo de Los Tres B V12/13 (not sure of the grade because it has apparently changed recently because some stones were pulled out of the crack behind one of the holds making it a bit bigger).

I'll be climbing on North tomorrow and will hopefully get a some sends of my own. I'm really psyched on Diabolic and will head to that first. Then Terre de Sienne will be next on the list. Hopefully I can do Diabolic quickly so that I will still be fresh for Terre. I'd like to try Algerita a bit - Tim told me his beta which is slightly different that what I've tried in the past. It'll probably be unrealistic to have skin left for trying Algerita after a session on Terre. We'll see. Stay tuned for more news from the Hueco front.

Leaving for Hueco tomorrow

2009-02-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

I'm hitting the road tomorrow afternoon and should be climbing on Thursday. I'm super psyched - and feeling healthy though maybe slightly out of shape from not climbing much the past two weeks. I'm optimistic about the trip though. I'll be bringing an HD camcorder down with me so hopefully I'll get lots of good footage and be able to edit something.

Andy Mann couldn't join me in the end, so I'll be heading down solo. The weather is looking good now but may warm up next week. Hopefully the conditions stay reasonable - you don't have the option for early morning sessions or lantern night sessions in hueco to get better temps. Anyway, I'll try to post regular updates on the trip whenever I can get internet access so stay tuned. Here are a few more hueco pics from the archive.

Unknown climber on Babyface

Sandy climbing Ghetto Simulator

Sandy doing some serious filming just like I'll be doing down there soon.

Going to Hueco Soon

2009-02-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of my friend Josh climbing the ultra classic See Spot Run in Hueco. I'm heading back down in less than a week. Super psyched. I haven't been climbing much recently because I hurt my back a little and then got sick. I wanted to rest well when sick to make sure that I am healthy by the time I get to Hueco. I went down there over Thanksgiving and was sick half the trip and didn't have enough energy to do my projects even though I felt good on them. I'm feeling pretty good now. Hopefully I can finish business on this trip. My main goals are Diabolic V13 (in the photos below) and Terre de Sienne V14. Felt close on both last time.

Can't wait to get down there. I'll be heading down there with my friend Andy Mann. Hopefully he'll catch some good photos that I can put up on the blog. I'll probably be there for a bit more than a week and may catch the Rock Rodeo at the tail end of the trip.

Firstborn it is!

2009-02-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

The name of the arete I put up two weeks ago is Firstborn. There were 60 total votes (20 for Oldest Child and 40 for Firstborn). Thanks to everyone who voted.

Partage slideshow and reflection

2009-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Last week was pretty uneventful. I did a bit of hiking around the flatirons searching for new good lines but didn't come across much. Yesterday I put in a session at the BRC and did this move that fully wrecked my back. I don't think I did any permanent damage but it's pretty sore right now. I've never had my big core muscles this sore before. I was trying to hold this really violent swing onto a good jug. Now I feel like a stake was driven right through my midsection and it hurts to do a simple sit up. I'm sure I'll be fine in a few days though (I was even able to climb some right after I hurt it).

I brought up Partage a week ago and it reminded me of a reflection I wrote about the experience. I gave it to La Sportiva to put on their webpage but it was never posted. I figured I would post it here. Also, I put together a slide show of images of my climbing the problem taken by Stephan Denys. Here's the slide show and below is my reflection on the ascent. At the bottom is a photo of me on a 7c arete near Partage that I flashed earlier that day.

Partage 8a+ (photos: Stephan Denys)

(Note: I wrote this just after returning from my France trip last March)

I just got back from an amazing two week trip in France. I spent the first part in Fontainebleau and the second part in the South of France, mainly at a new sandstone bouldering area called Annot. I met up with Tony Lamiche there and he gave me a great tour of the climbing. The trip was memorable for many reasons, but climbing-wise, the highlight for me was flashing an 8a+(V12) arete in Font called Partage. When I first heard about this problem, probably 7 years ago, it was touted as one of the best problems in the world - one of the select five star lines. Though I visited Font briefly a few years back, I never got to see the problem and so it remained a mystery to me. Seeing the problem in person was one of the main priorities for this trip. I wasn't sure if I would climb on it because I knew it was hard and my time in Font would be short.

The day I arrived in France, I went to see the problem and was impressed by the purity of the blunt arete. I was inspired to climb but was tired from the travel and it was raining slightly. The next day I climbed at other areas to get used to the unique style required for Font climbing. On the second climbing day, we visited Butiers, the area where Partage lives, and I climbed many cool problems I had never tried including two 7c flashes and a great 7b+ highball called The Master's Edge. Towards the end of the day, I decided to head to Partage just to play on the moves - I figured that I should at least see what it was all about. I spent a while setting the pads up, fondling the starting holds, and imaging the strange body positions that would be required to make the slopey arete features usable. The thought of actually flashing the route was not a realistic consideration, but I figured I'd try my hardest on my first attempt because there was really no reason not to. I gripped the starting pinch, placed the first delicate heel hook and pulled on to try the first move. I reached the right hand hold and it felt terrible but I knew it would be better if I could move my body to the opposite side of the arete. With an on-the-spot invented move akin to a sideways mantle, I managed to get my body to the left side of the arete and made the move to the next hold. To my surprise, the hold felt decent. I realized then that I was through perhaps the hardest moves and actually had a chance to flash the problem. I had to quickly suppress this thought and focus on the climbing. I made the next move to a bad sloper just below a good pocket. As my hand slid down the sloper, I was able to reposition my foot in a place that would allow me to reach the pocket. In a completely focused state of mind, I pulled up and stabbed my hand into the pocket. I stuck it and just needed to pull the exit moves to finish the problem (and to not take a bad fall as I was pretty high now). I was completely surprised by the ascent and at the same time overwhelmed with a feeling of personal accomplishment. This was certainly one of my best climbing efforts - it felt amazing to connect every move perfectly while pushing myself to the limit of my ability. The involuntary noises that came out of me while climbing literally had the neighborhood dogs barking. It was a special experience to climb this amazing problem I had known about for so long in this style. Attached are some photos of the actual send though they don't quite do the climb justice.

The next day, Tony and I climbed at Cuisinere and I was fortunated enough to climb Karma, another classic font 8a+ that had been on my list for a long time. After unsuccessfully throwing ourselves at Hale Bopp, we finished the day on the archetypal Font sloper problem, La Chose 7c+. The following day, day four of climbing for me, Tony and I tried a cool 8a roof called Opium. We tried all sorts of beta, but nothing worked well for me and eventually I gave up. Shortly after I stopped climbing, Tony figured out a better sequence and sent the problem - I was too wasted however to give it another try.

Though my time in Font was short, I was blessed with perfect climbing weather and couldn't have ask for more. After a night spent in Paris, I headed south with Tony. We cruised into the Alps just as a storm dumped a foot of new snow. Though our mission was climbing, we couldn't pass up a day of skiing. Tony gave me the tour of his local resort and we found amazing untracked gullies, woods, and bowls. It was a great challenge for me to keep up with Tony - he's an amazing skier. From the Alps, we headed southwest to the small town of Annot. Here we spent the rest of the trip climbing at a newer sandstone area that Tony had helped develop. The climbing was similar to Font but different in certain ways. All in all, it was a fun area with many great established problems and tons of potential. Hopefully I'll be publishing a photo essay soon in one of the climbing mags that compares Font and Annot.

Arete Images

2009-01-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some video stills of me on the arete I just did. Scott Neel shot these to use in the upcoming film "Rocky Mountain Highball." I think it is going to be premiering at the Boulder Theater some time in March.

Top names in the running so far are: "Firstborn" and "The Oldest Child". Vote on which you prefer in the gadget to the right - or suggest another name in this post.

Snowy in Boulder

2009-01-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken this morning - looks like outdoor climbing will be out for at least a few days. Fortunately I sent my arete project in the Flatirons yesterday (see photo on previous post). The crux move, and only move I hadn't previously done, gave me some serious hardships at first. I just couldn't get my body into a position that would allow me to move slowly enough to the next hold. I was a bit worried that it wasn't going to go down. I switched into a slightly tighter pair of shoes to dig into the small edge a bit more and tried the move a few more times. I finally stuck it when I tried to squeeze really hard. I also leaned my body out to get a slightly better look at the hold just before going - is it possible that this subtly different body position made all the difference? Psyched that I had a chance at doing the problem, I took my shoes off and rested to de-numb my feet and rest my skin. I sent the whole problem next go, though not without difficulty. I didn't really get any of the upper holds perfectly, but persisted. At the end there is a big dynamic to the lip which is quite scary because of the height and landing. When I got there I questioned trying the move for a sec because things weren't feeling perfect. Then I decided I had a good chance and realized that I didn't want to have to link through the crux again. I overshot the lip but then came down on it and stuck it. The mantle was casual and a new classic flatirons problem was born.

I'm thinking about calling it "The Oldest Child" but not fully decided yet - I'm open to suggestions. It lies just below a big climbing feature called the Matron and seems to be the biggest in the set of boulders, like the oldest sibling of the matron. I'm thinking that it's probably V11 though it could be V12 - other people will have to try it and give their opinion (would definitely be V12 in hot weather). I think the problem is 3 stars (perhaps 3-). It's a beautiful feature in a beautiful setting with cool moves. The main detractions are a rocky landing (though no dab potential) and sharp holds. I'm lucky that I did it yesterday because the gully in which it resides will be closed from Feb 1 to sometime in July or August.

We got the send on video too and it should be part of the movie coming out soon, "Rocky Mountain Highball." Hopefully I'll have some video stills to post here soon.

Psyched on a cool FA!!! Perhaps my first good bouldering FA in Boulder.

Featureless arete climbing

2009-01-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

Aretes have always been one of my favorite features to climb on - bouldering or roped. They come in all shapes and can require very different styles of climbing. Plus they almost always have a distinct aesthetic line. One interesting arete type is the slightly overhanging blunt prow. Partage in Font is a great example of this. These problems always require subtle body movements, strong footwork, and poor handholds. It is really amazing the what can be a hold on an arete, like a little dish that wouldn't be a good foot hold on a face of the same angle. What makes these holds useable is the fact that you can contort your body to the other side of the arete and reach around the arete to grab the hold. In doing this, you essentially change the angle of the hold by the angle of the arete. This is often the trick to climbing hard aretes. Another aspect of this type of arete climbing is the tension you keep between one hand and the opposite foot. It's a really cool feeling to be clamping the arete between a right hand sloper and a left toe smear or heel hook.

What brought up this topic, you ask? Well, yesterday I tried this project that Andy Mann showed me that pretty much fits this bill. At first we were convinced that it wouldn't go because there weren't enough holds. Then I started trying the moves and surprised myself by what was holdable. I ended up figuring out beta for all the moves and successfully did all but one. It turned out to be really cool in the subtlties of holds and body positions. It's a bit sharp and crimpy which makes it slightly less pleasant than something like the near-5 star Partage. Still I'm pretty psyched. I'll have to go back soon and try to send the whole thing. It will definitely be intersting as the top is about 15ft above the talus and the last move is a dynamic move for the lip off of a small crimp that could easily pop. I did the move on TR a few times because we only had two pads. Hopefully the weather holds around Boulder long enough for me to give another go on this.

Here's a picture of me trying this project taken by Andy Mann. Below are two photos of me climbing Partage during my trip to France last March. The conditions were perfect that day and I eeked out a flash of this amazing problem (perhaps the first flash). Needless to say, this was one of my greatest climbing achievements and was a truly special experience.

Stronger fingers, more endurance, less body weight

2009-01-21T07:59:00.000-08:00

I watched this movie, "Bigger, Stronger, Faster," yesterday and it got me thinking about the use of performance enhancing drugs in climbing. Fortunately to my knowledge, very few people in our sport engage is this sort of stuff. There are probably several main reasons. 1) there is not much money to be made in this sport, 2) the sport is less competitive than other sports, 3) climbers don't generally have lots of money to spend on this sort of thing, and 4) most climbers think pot is all the performance enhancement needed.

This movie focuses on the use of anabolic steroids in sports including weight lifting, baseball, and running. The movie tries to make a comment on American society in general, but I think it falls short in this aim. Instead it is just an interesting review of the pros and cons of steroid use. One interesting point is that there is very little medical evidence showing that steroid use is any more dangerous for a person than many over-the-counter drugs. It is 142 on the list of most common drugs related to ER visits - not very high (lower than asprin and multi-vitamins). Additionaly, there are few studies that link it to long term illness. It seems that the main reason the use of anabolic steroids is illegal is that use of them by prominent athletes sets a bad example for children.

Surprisingly, I came away from the movie thinking that steroids are really not that bad. I don't think I would ever use them because I don't like foreign substances in my body and I'm not too fond of needles. I'm glad that they are not really used in climbing because if they were, I think I would be more tempted to use them also. Even though climbing is a personal pursuit, most people end up measuring their accomplishments with respect to others. A big question is would steroids even help in a sport like climbing where strength to weight ratio is critical? I'm not sure they would be good for route climbing, but perhaps they could be beneficial for bouldering.

An even more controversial issue that will face sports in the near future is genetic modification. In the movie they show a cow that produces twice as much muscle as a normal cow because of a genetic modification. This cow is ridiculously ripped and takes no steroids or anything else. As genetic enhancements become prevalant - if they are legally allowed - it will be very hard to compare the athletic accomplishments of two individuals. Certainly harder things will be accomplished, but can you attribute the athlete or the geneticist? Of course genetics already play huge role in a sport like climbing - there are certain people who have the perfect body for climbing. This is the luck of the draw though and there are many examples of people with non-perfect genetics still excelling. But when bodies are crafted exactly for the sport, things may be different.

Climbing is lucky that it can be a strongly personal pursuit so people will always be able to try to improve upon their personal bests. Also one doesn't need to be pushing the limit to fully enjoy the sport. So the value of climbing will never be taken away. Still things could change. In some ways, this debate is similar to the debates around the use of chalk, sticky rubber shoes, cams, bolts, hangdogging, knee bar pads, etc. It seems to be of a different nature though. Any thoughts?

Project Hunting

2009-01-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

I'd really like to find a cool trad project somewhere around Boulder. It's not so easy just finding the perfect line though - I guess the bar would just be raised if there were so many good lines. Anyway, I went on a trek in Eldo today to check out some of the higher walls on the south side of the canyon. Unfortunately I had no luck. It is really hard to tell the scale of things in Eldo - I've often seen a face that looks good from afar only to find that it's really short. The angles of the walls are also hard to determine from far away. I plan to just keep searching and hopefully I'll come across something cool and worthy. Hopefully I'll get out bouldering this weekend too.

Back in Boulder

2009-01-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

After a marathon drive (20 hours driving in 24 hours) I just made it back to Boulder in time for a meeting I needed to attend. The Bishop trip was amazing! I got to climb so many of the problems I was psyched on. Of course I left a few behind for next trip - especially the project I cleaned which is in the picture above. The picture doesn't really do it justice though - it is taller than it looks.

I climbed on Monday before leaving but didn't try the project. Early in the morning, I went back up to the Ninth, a problem I established in 2005, to film it with Brett Lowell and Cooper Roberts. They are filming for the new movie "Progression" which is supposed to come out this coming fall. They are doing a section on Bishop with Kevin doing some of the big lines including his new one. They may use the footage of the Ninth to help set the scene. After climbing up there, I went to the main area and gave some burns on the Buttermilker. My first go was really good but I didn't quite hold the swing when I took my toe hook out. The next few goes were worse. Then I tried some different beta and found a way to kneebar the last move. This allowed me to use an easier sequence for removing the toe hook. I gave it a few more tries and then just barely managed to send it. It was pretty cool to do it and I had to try hard because things weren't perfect. I only didn the problem from the underclings which goes at V12 - I'll perhaps have to try the V13 sit start next time even though it doesn't really add any hard or interesting moves. Below is a photo of my brother trying the Buttermilker earlier in the trip. To end the day, I tried Thunderbird V11 and did it on my second try. I had tried it in the past but usually only half-heartedly because I was scared of splitting a tip. This time, I used no tape and really dug into the crimp. I had to pull hard but it all worked out. The low start to this one, Direction, will also have to wait for the next trip.

My drive back was interesting - especially the section between Tonapah and Ely. I thought I had plenty of gas, but was on empty when I saw the sign that read "51 miles to Ely". I just managed to make it to Ely and literally rolled into the gas station after the car died. Lucky!!! The rest of the drive was long and uneventful. Listening to "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens helped pass the time a bit.

Now I'm in Boulder trying to get back into the groove of school. The weather is looking good though for the next few days so I'm hoping to get outside to climb. I'm psyched to try Suspension of Disbelief in Eldo. I also want to start roaming around scouting potential trad projects.

No project luck for me

2009-01-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I have to leave Bishop. I'll climb in the morning and then take off for a marathon drive back to Colorado - hopefully arriving before 3pm on Tuesday. I'm resting today in hopes that I feel reasonably fresh for my final day. Yesterday I felt pretty stiff. I checked out the project and tried the moves. It all seems to go, but there is a stopper move in the middle that is really hard. I maybe figured out some beta but didn't do the move. I'll probably give it another go tomorrow though I'm not optimistic about sending. Hopefully I'll get some photos of it that I can post here.

Yesterday we had a cool night session at the cave boulder. I tried the Buttermilker a few times but didn't feel too snappy. I'll give that a go tomorrow as well - I think I should be able to pull it off from the underclings. Dave Nunley brought out his generator and two flood lights and we had the whole cave lit up. Pretty cool. Below are some photos of the cave at night. The full moon was pretty rad too.

New project scrubbed and ready to try

2009-01-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

After watching Kevin do his new line, I got the FA bug in me. Though my trip is coming to end, I was hoping to find something new to do. I had a couple ideas of things that I had looked at in the past. There are plenty of mediocre new problems to be done around the Buttermilks, but I wanted to do something really cool. My first objective was to check out the south east face of the Drifter boulder. I had looked at this wall in the past and deemed it not worthy. I knew however that our perceptions change over time and I was hoping to see something I didn't see before. I set a rope on the top of the boulder and rapped down the face. I first rapped the center of the wall which is quite tall. The previous day I had seen some holds that could constitute a line. Upon closer inspection, I realized that many of the holds were not solid. There could be something there, but I wasn't psyched on the quality of the rock - especially because it's high off the deck. Next I moved to the right a little and looked at another set of holds. Here the holds were slightly better and it looked like something was feasible. The crux would be very high though and would involve a long cross though off of a tiny crimp. I was getting a bit psyched on this line, but also a little concerned that it might take more than the time I have left to get solid enough on the move to try it without a rope. Finally I moved my rope to the right side of the wall. The start of al of the problems would likely have to be here because the lower part of the wall is pretty blank to the left. I saw an obvious decent crimp about 6 ft below the lip and wondered if there would be a way to get to the lip from this hold. At first I didn't find any holds and then I saw an obvious flake that looked solid. The move would be big to get to it, but it looked like the kind of hold you could stick after doing a big move. I also noticed that the topout looked a little worse in this section though there still seemed to be enough holds to keep it from being completely desperate. After cleaning the line more, I found a few more small holds that could help and came up with a feasible sequence. All in all, it's a really cool line - pretty much straight up, decent holds, interesting looking moves, and all on a tall cool looking face. The only downside is that the rock isn't the perfect bishop patina. Still the rock quality is pretty good. I'm really psyched to try it tomorrow. Probably will work the end moves on a rope to come up with to good sequence and then go for it from the ground. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the send up tomorrow.

Another Day in Bishop

2009-01-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to continue on the send train today but no luck. There were some other good sends in the Buttermilks today though. The coolest is Kevin Jorgenson's FA of a tall line on the east face of the Grandpa Boulder. Probably about V11/12 to a 5.12d solo. Looks rad. I'll have to try it sometime. Josh Lowell filmed it so it should be in his next film.

I tried Mystery, Direction and Buttermilker today - the main things I want to try to do today. None went that well though I came somewhat close to doing the Buttermilker from the the underclings (V12 version). Mystery still felt hard and Direction felt sharp. I'll rest tomorrow and then have another go on these the day after. Buttermilker is at the top of the list. I think I should be able to do it at least from the underclings. I have a pretty good sequence figured out now. It's hard though - lots of tension and slippery slopers - not my forte.

Here are a few photos from the past days that I like. The first two are of the sunrise two days ago. Then a photo of my two dogs the same morning. The final photo is of me just before the lip on Evilution left.

Bishop Update

2009-01-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

I've been in Bishop for a but more than two weeks now. When I arrived, the weather was pretty bad - cold and snowy. Still manages to climb the first week but it was a struggle to stay warm and loose. I was also getting over a sickness at the beginning of the trip. My main goal for the trip was to do the Mandala sit start. I had tried this a year and a half ago and came very close (fell twice on the Mandala's first move). Other problems I was thinking about are Spectre, Swarm, Direction and Evilution.

Recently the weather has been good and things have really been falling into place. this past weekend, I climbed with my girlfriend, Sandy, my brother, Andrew, and good friends Noah and Siemay. There was a lot of stoke. On Friday I climbed Evilution Direct - one of the best problems in the world. My brother had been super psyched on the route and had worked out the beta for the finish which had changed because of a broken hold. A couple days earlier, I tried the lip moves on a rope and figured out a sequence that felt solid for me. On Friday, I tried the moves once more on a rope and then sent first try from the ground. It was scary, but I felt in control. I got a bit excited at the end quickly manteled a slopey hold to get into the low angle scoop. This was not the plannes sequence, but fortunately worked. Andrew is also super close to doing the line. He took a few big falls from the lip. Below is one photo I took of him at the last hard moves. Will's Young shot some cool photos of me doing Evilution and posted them on the Bishop Bouldering blog.

On Saturday, I went up to the Swarm V14 and tried some of the moves. I had tried the first moves many years ago when it was still a project and was excited to see how they felt now. I quickly did the first move and was close to sticking the second move - a jump to a small edge with a good incut in the back. I stalled on the hold a couple of times, but didn't quite stick it. I also worked out the end sequence twice. My psyche for the line was definitely increased by watching Tim Clifford climb it a few days earlier. I also found his beta very useful. I think we used the exact same beta for the whole climb. Sandy took a few cool shots of me working the problem just before dusk.

I rested Sunday and went back to the Swarm on Monday afternoon. After three close attempts from the start, falling at the second move, I decided to take a short rest to let my skin get a bit harder. Then I went back and did it on my next go. The ascent went pretty smoothly, but I definitely had to hang on hard to not fall after the crux. I was really psyched to stick the moves and it was such a god feeling to swing out on the crimps and then swing back in without falling. I felt that this problem really suited my style - crimpy and slightly overhanging.

Yesterday I went for a hike with my dogs in the morning. I was hoping to stumble across a rad new problem somewhere above the Buttermilks, but luck wasn't with me. I rested during the middle of the day with hopes of climbing in the last hour before it got dark when the sun is no longer hitting the boulders. I warmed up some and then headed to the Mandala. There was a good posse trying it and I started getting psyched to give the sit a good go. I had worked out the moves on previous days and had also repeated the stand start on Friday after doing Evilution Direct. I fondled the key left hand crimp and was pretty optimistic about how it felt. This hold makes or breaks the lower moves because all the hard moves of the sit start involve this hold. It is a small rounded spike that you can just barely wedge two and a half fingers into. I chilled a bit longer and then sat down at the base and started. The intro moves went well and I got my fingers into the key crimp well. I held the swing and jumped to the starting hold of the Mandala stand. I just barely latched it and was uncertain if I would continue holding it. Instinctively I wrapped it int a crimp and it felt much better. I then set myself up for the long first move of the Mandala and grabbed the small hold with just three fingers. I didn't have time to get my pinky on so I just crimped as hard as physically possible and pulled up to the next hold. I didn't get this one perfect either but was still on. I launched for the next edge which I knew was a lot better and stuck it. From here I was solid on the finish, though a bit nervous because I could no longer feel my fingers and the holds are pretty solid. I pulled around and mantled the lip super psyched. It felt great to succeed on the primary goal of the trip. When I came down, my fingers we in sharp pain because I hadn't warmed them up enough for that much hard crimping. I also had small cuts on every tip that looked bad at the time but turned out to be mostly superficial. The sit start supposedly goes at V14. For me, it is probably the hardest problem I've ever done. It felt harder than Swarm. None of the moves were as hard as the Quintessential moves for me, but the link was more involved (Quintessential is a problem I did the second ascent of in South Africa and I considered it the hardest problem I've done prior to doing the Mandala sds).

After sanding my tips and resting a bit, I headed down to Evilution to watch the action there. Some people were trying both exits to the problem. Several days back I had tried the lip moves of the original Evilution line once. I knew I could do the crux move up there and was thinking that maybe I should try to climb it while things were still fresh in my mind. On the other hand, I was thinking that one Evilution ascent would be plenty good. Anyway, after watching a few people try the left exit, I got psyched to try it. I decided to give it one really good go. I figured I could do it if I tried my hardest. I velcroed up and then gave it a go. The bottom went smoothly and I felt strong on the crimps through the lip moves. The last few moves after the crux were a bit dicey because I was high and had never tried the moves before. All went well though and I found myself climbing the upper slab above Evilution for a second time this trip. They say the left version is V12 and the right version is V11. I buy this but really they feel pretty comparable. One is physically harder and one is mentally harder.

I'm really psyched with these recent ascents. The past two days are probably my best days of climbing ever. I feel really strong now and hope to carry this psyche and confidence through another couple of sends. On the top of the list are The Buttermilker, Direction, and Mystery. I'm also interested in trying the opening sequence on a new highball that Kevin Jorgenson may try to send tomorrow. I watched him do it on TR and he looks super solid. Maybe if I figure out the opening moves, I'll try the upper part. More than likely, I'll have to wait for another trip.

Blog creation

2009-01-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

Hi there.
I set up this blog today as a place for me to post news about the things I've been doing. I'll also use if for waxing philosophical on general topics of interest. Hopefully I'll be able to post lots of pics from various trips and keep it up to date on content. My guess is that my posts will be less frequent when I'm wrapped up in my PhD work and more frequent when I'm off on an climbing trip. I hope you find this interesting and entertaining - I know at least my parents will.

-Matt