I Found The Path!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.