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!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Adversity in Europe
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Off to Switzerland Soon
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.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Vegas
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.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Where's Matt
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
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
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Iron Monkey Footage
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Another Slideshow (Bent Gate Mountaineering)
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.
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.
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