Horse Tooth Canyon, CO

Horse Tooth Canyon, CO

Been awhile… I was very busy towards the end of last semester so I didn’t climb much. A few days out here and there but nothing noteworthy. Over winter break I got to go to Horse Tooth Canyon with by firend Nick Karasek for a day. A lot of the top outs were snowy but I managed to send a few interesting lines. The picture above is Moon Arete V10 which I really enjoyed.

Been awhile… I was very busy towards the end of last semester so I didn’t climb much. A few days out here and there but nothing noteworthy. Over winter break I got to go to Horse Tooth Canyon with by firend Nick Karasek for a day. A lot of the top outs were snowy but I managed to send a few interesting lines. The picture above is Moon Arete V10 which I really enjoyed.

B rock

I recently took two weeks off, one for school work and one because I was sick… no fun… But I’m back at it! To get into the swing of things I took two gym days. This past weekend though I got out to the blowing rock boulders. Now that it’s gotten a bit colder I’m no longer just casually climbing but starting to actually train. I know everyone trains in the summer but come on, that’s my vacation! Anyways with the training in mind I was just doing a circuit day at Brock, no projects or anything. I warmed up on Tendon Sandwich V5ish and then fired the sit, a V7 or so. Next I repeated Flagyl V10, Preferential Treatment V10, Squeezejob V10, and Room With a View V10. With soft “gym skin” I was pretty torn apart after all those so I bailed. Here’s a picture of Room With a View and I should have some video of it along with Preferential soon too. More training and maybe Sunday Service soon!

photo by Melise Edwards

Repeats

I got out to BR and GMA recently and did a few more repeats. I did Preferential V10 for a third time and repeated Full Throttle V11 second try. As far as new climbs go I sent AHR V8, Hot Rod V8 with a day flash and Squeeze Job V10. I also got on Sunday Service V11 but I was feeling pretty wrecked already. It’s not my style at all and feels like one of the hardest things I’ve tried… making some progress though! We’re getting hit with a heat wave right now but temps are supposed to drop again soon… we’ll see.

Lately

Since my last post the weather in Boone has been amazing. Lots of climbing and no blogging. But here I am! So, I did the right extension to Unwritten Law that I was talking about earlier. It wasn’t nearly as runout as I thought it would be and there’s really no need for another bolt. I think it weighs in at about 5.13a or b and unsurprisingly I found out a few other people have done it aswell. Pat Goodman told me about another line linking tiers to Allah into this right variation and I’m psyched to give it a try.

I worked on another gem Goodman told me about, a highball “V8” put up my some OG sandbaggers back in the day. It doesn’t see much attention and I had to clean it up on rap but apparently it was put up about a decade ago. It’s right off the road and your pads pretty much block traffic but it’s amazing. Interesting movement with a bit of a scare factor. I haven’t put it down yet but I plan to get back on it soon. Maybe catch some video too.

Yesterday I got out to Blowing Rock and had sort of a circuit day. Didn’t have any projects so i just climbed whatever. Repeated Desperate B*tch, Flagyl, and Preferential Treatment. Flagyl and Preferential felt easy whereas last season Preferential felt like one of the hardest problems I’ve sent. I’m looking forward to what this season will bring.

Next up is to get on Sunday Service and that Highball off the road.

Route Potential

I went out to The Dump yesterday to have a chill day sport climbing while most of the boulders were still wet. I was going for a repeat of Ride the Lightning 5.13a which is itself an extension of Unwritten Law 5.12c

image
an old picture of me on Ride the Lightning

RTL busts out left from the finish of Unwritten Law but as I was attempting it I noticed what looked to be a line finishing out the right side of the wall. It would be another one bolt extension like RTL but it takes you out the prow of the wall which aesthetically makes much more sense. I climbed up to the next bolt on RTL and then lowered back down to try the right variation. It adds some cool toe hook and compression moves and In my opinion is a much better finish than RTL. It feels of similar difficulty but maybe a tad bit harder. I’m going to try and get back on it and just run it out from the anchors on Unwritten Law or maybe place some gear. Eventually though I do want to bolt it so more people can try what I think could be   a really cool finish.

Video says it all

Linville Gorge

Leaves are starting to turn and the air is getting crispy! It’s almost in season in the High Country! 

This past Friday Dalen Gray showed me around Linville Gorge. It was my first time there and it blew me away. VAST amounts of boulders to be developed with potential classics everywhere. The hike in/out is pretty brutal and you’re definitely out in the wild. Adventure bouldering through and through.

We warmed up on an interesting looking line with a bit of a scare factor. The actual fall zone isn’t bad but directly next it is a huge drop off.

The Fall…

After backing down a few times from the deadpoint crux we both fired it. Figuring it hadn’t been done before I named it Canadian Mist, after finding a bottle of the good stuff around the landing.


A little liquid courage before a highball perhaps?


Dalen eyeing up Canadian Mist V2


Canadian Mist

Canadian Mist


Don’t fall there…

Next we did a cool slopey V3 called Dreamy and then started putting in burns on Fulfillment V10. It sits right next to the water and climbs GREAT. Pull off the ground, lurch, awkward left heel, and THROW for the lip.


Not quite…

 
There it is

We both did fulfillment and then put in burns on a project right next to it. Possible V10+?

 
Really interesting rig next to fulfillment

After trying that for awhile we moved on and did a few more random boulders. I managed a flash of Full Power Scram, a V7 on amazing rock.

Lastly we checked out Jimmy Web’s Mechanical Sunset…(sunrise?) a burly but amazing looking V12.

Mechanical Sunset.

Dalen linked a few moves but my skin was killing me so I didn’t try it much. 
We noticed an amazing looking line on the same boulder too.

 

The Scoop Project V12+?

The projects down there were plentiful and inspiring. People talk about Boone being tapped out but just a short drive takes you to hundreds of V10+ lines just waiting to be sent. 

Couldn’t of had a better guide than Dalen and I’m really looking forward to getting back down there with more fitness and colder temps! 

Video Video

I got out and filmed Full Throttle today, should have it up by the end of the weekend.   Getting out to Linville Gorge tomorrow too so hopefully that will go well…

Lately I’ve been taking some mileage days doing a lot of problems I’ve never tried before. Did a lot of cool moderates I’ve always overlooked. This past Sunday though was a project day with the temps feeling nice and cripsy. First I jumped on Sunday Service. I had tried it once before (in the above picture) but it was while my tendon was still tweaked so this was my first time putting in serious burns. The climb starts with a couple heel hooks up to a some decent edges, you have to bring your feet out of the roof and re-establish on some bad feet and bump left(crux for me and the left hand in the picture) to set up for a huge dyno to a hard to hit slot(the top left tick in the picture). I made a few linkups but I still need to refine my beta some more. After my tips started to give out I moved on to try Full Throttle, a Litz V11. While the hand sequence is extremely straight forward the foot sequence is where the real problem is making the climb really weird. The crux is also unusual… it’s not a move to a another handhold it’s just readjusting your body positioning while already on established hands and feet. The beta that finally worked for me only took two tries but before that l tried all sorts of different sequences and beta. Should have some video by the end of the week.

Lately I’ve been taking some mileage days doing a lot of problems I’ve never tried before. Did a lot of cool moderates I’ve always overlooked. This past Sunday though was a project day with the temps feeling nice and cripsy. First I jumped on Sunday Service. I had tried it once before (in the above picture) but it was while my tendon was still tweaked so this was my first time putting in serious burns. The climb starts with a couple heel hooks up to a some decent edges, you have to bring your feet out of the roof and re-establish on some bad feet and bump left(crux for me and the left hand in the picture) to set up for a huge dyno to a hard to hit slot(the top left tick in the picture). I made a few linkups but I still need to refine my beta some more. After my tips started to give out I moved on to try Full Throttle, a Litz V11. While the hand sequence is extremely straight forward the foot sequence is where the real problem is making the climb really weird. The crux is also unusual… it’s not a move to a another handhold it’s just readjusting your body positioning while already on established hands and feet. The beta that finally worked for me only took two tries but before that l tried all sorts of different sequences and beta.

Should have some video by the end of the week.