You blocked me on Facebook; now you must Die.

I have decided to stop climbing.

Ha Ha. Not really. But, my appearance on the climbing scene has diminished. A quick year in review.

I went to nationals and sucked it up. Let's just say I could've done better.

The day after destroying the sickest plastic project-in reality, I thought it was a new high in my climbing-I injured my finger three finger campussing.

Over a week in Joe's valley, I peaked out with No Substance, a V8, a memorable and rather disheartening send. Being that this was three weeks after sustaining my previously mentioned injury, I was still handicapped. I attended an SCS competition afterwards and the pain resumed completely. At the comp., I completed two routes... maybe just one.

Climbing in Bozeman the next weekend to attain my necessary three for regionals, I still felt pain and stopped after two routes.

Ultimately, I did not attend regionals or any following competition.

I climbed thrice at the beginning of the summer completing routes new to me such as the Pulaski, V6. Pain resumed, and I of course un-resumed climbing.

A couple days into July, I'm guessing the fourth, I began to climb again. Making a strong appearance, I sunk pockets at the Lander International Climbers' Festival-consisting of five days of 5.10 snacking. It seemed much more like chewing on bitter inedible twigs than any sort of snack.

For the next three weeks, I climbed managing to send Tribal Vibrations, V11, and some others again. However routes, such as Pookster, another eleven, beat me yet; it was abuse.

Europe, an awesome-ish trip, came, but climbing only came seldom. Once in Austria, once and half in Switzerland, and thrice in France. I sent Biceps Mou, the highlight-day (out of twenty-one) of my Europe trip.

Back in Wyoming, I did ten 8s in four hours and Green Glass Door, an awesome route.

It is rather depressing to see that was my year in climbing. Like fo' real, I did shit. Sorry to use the word. Not very professional. Looking over all that is a disappointment.

The year previous, the list of accomplishments was much more impressive. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. 8th at nationals.

Now looking at it like that is probably not the best. Climbing is about enjoying yourself; we all make it sound like some enlightening pursuit. We all make it sound as if this transcends us to a higher level. Maybe I am misinterpreting the things I read, or think I read. And if we are to think climbing transcends the human, why wouldn't we take it seriously?

Climbing to me is a game. It is not a lifestyle, although my life revolves around it. It is a game because I go out and climb rocks while taking it as if though I am playing with nuclear weaponry. Dealing with nuclear weaponry strikes me as a pursuit I would enjoy, but this doesn't mean I would treat it lightly. When I take a step back though, I realize all climbing does is give me an unreasonable sort of pleasure.

The weeks without climbing taught me that I do not need climbing to live. Over the weeks, I managed to make a catapult, six feet tall, and develop my social life. Those were the only remarkable developments. It is hard to tell if my mental fortitude declined over this period.

Looking back to where this tangent, nigh on unintelligible, started, climbing is about enjoyment, and even though it is just a game, my happiness depends on it. Without progression, life in stasis, to me, is a life not lived. Not superseding my previous year with greater achievement disappoints me. If someone asks me, the greatest moment of my life. I don't want to look back three years and say a certain day. If my finest moment was any extended amount of time ago, what the @#$% have I been doing in the mean time? If I can avoid injury, and I will consciously try to avoid it, this new year will not be like last year.

Since the end of summer, I have primarily climbed indoors. On my wall...

Last year, my biggest flaw was my inability on large moves. Lacking large facilities, I worked on smaller move, harder hold routes. My last couple months have gone to working on nemesis routes with big moves, and as I have become better, worse holds.

I think, do not know, that I progressed in ability, hopefully at least to the previous years strength.

For the last year, I also had small-time sponsorship from La Sportiva. I didn't attempt to renew because of my poor performance though. If I had done, well I would feel as if though I deserved a sponsorship; I did no such thing though and must once again prove myself, if only to myself, worthy of a sponsorship.

It is hard to find a balance in life when I'm all about extremes. My classes are not too difficult, but sometimes the homework is just ridiculous and overwhelming; at the same time, which pisses me off, it is unnecessary. Of the things in life I do, and am proud of, I think first and foremost to come to mind is academics. Not that I am supremely above others, but I push my limits to the bar society sets for me in small-town Cody. Last semester, I took Calculus II, AP Biology (Bio 1010 through the near-by college), Honors British Lit., Advanced Composition (English 1010 through the college), and AP Economics (outside of school, online, and self-paced). This semester is much more my style with Differential Equations (at the college), College Physics... at the college, calc. based..., Independent study for "Advanced Topics in Mathematics," Chemistry II (college Chemistry 1010), AP Statistics, and AP Government. Normally, a kid takes four classes at a time, so I am pretty psyched with six. What I love is my parents don't push me in any of this. They support me, but they don't push.

The only part that sucks is I often am single minded. I must either be focussed on my intellect or physical being. It's one or the other. My goal this semester is to find a way for the two to work together, to be in balance.

Among other sad things, I believe that USAclimbing wants me dead. Well, this year they changed up the set-up for bouldering and regionals was in December. It is generally in January, well in previous years. Although I registered for the competition, somehow I never saw a date. So there was $85, a ridiculous amount, down the drain. Really though, it was my fault. Dagnabit. This made me more resolute in my decision to not reapply for a sponsorship.

Lately I climb hard in the gym and easy outside. A couple of days ago, I skipped out on school and went up with Jordan Jolley, Josh, and Christian Baumeister. I don't remember Josh's last name despite the fact I know him fairly well, much better than Christian at least. When we went up, I managed a new V5 next to Fader, which I called V7 last year... more like V5.

Today, Reese, a longtime friend of mine, and I went up to look at this boulder he cleaned up when I was in school. Down low, this is all between the first and second switchback on Cedar, he put up a low-ball V2/3 called Circle Jerk. Then he showed me the other boulder. It took a while to work out the easiest sequence, but when we did it went down at about V6 I would say. I don't know if this is correct because my judgement is befuddled from all times we tried it with extremely hard-to-hold start holds. So... Villainy in the Modern Age, V6.

Then Reese was wanting to give a look up the Lower Stonehedge drainage, so of course, we did just that. Making it to the first boulder up the gulley, the Maxx (I think that's how it was spelled), we threw down pads. In the guide there was a five done and room for more. So, we both did the five and began to work on a route that came out of a super-tight corridor. When all the dust settled, practically a literal statement, one chossy, semi-crap route was left standing. The moves once you escape the corridor are nice, but the corridor absolutely blows. I think this one deserves to be called Maxx Blow, V6.

What I really want is the perfect project. Three weeks of work. Beautiful movement. Memorable send. Limit of difficulty.

I'm waiting for it to appear. Thanks for reading. I doubt this blogging will become a more regular thing, but hey, we can hope.

Open that Door!

I am the king of indecisiveness. So many times, I have thought, "I should make a blog post." And then, the negative nancy within my head asks me, "What on earth do you have to tell?" The honest truth would be not much. However occasionally I do have some words that I find worth sharing. Also this does well to explain the mass quantity of time between my posts.

So, the rest of my summer was spent in Europe. Europe was awesome, but there was one major problem, an extreme lack of climbing. I climbed in a gym in Innsbruck and Interlaken. We also managed to go climb outside in Interlaken for an hour or two. Super massive, beautiful, granite faces. Of course, I was humbled and sent away after being put in my place on an 11c. Moments like that made me want to leave Europe or climb every day there. That is bratty. But, climbing is number one. I would kill for climbing: not the sweetest thought. The highlight of the trip was Paris because I was able to go by train down to Fontainebleau.

In Font., my time was spent at Bas Cuvier (pronounced without the s and r). Bas Cuvier has rolling hills littered with innumerable boulders. While there, I managed to put down Biceps Mou, an awesome 7b. The last day of climbing, we (parts of the family and I) took a taxi to Bas Cuvier. I asked for a calling card and received one that way we would be able to take a taxi back to the train station. After a day of climbing. We went to the parking lot and tried to call the taxi. Number showed invalid! So, we walked back to town. This took approximately two hours. Oh the things we do for climbing.

Now back in Wyoming, I have been seeking my ever so elusive strength. To gain it back, repeats are the name of the game. One day, I decided to approach a circuit competition style. With four hours, I was going to attempt a repeat 10 different V8's.
The list went as follows:

Deadman's Harley
Hiya
Bawitdaba
Presto
POW!
Ripper Extension
Something About Bob
Studs
8000 Beats per Minute
Honey Beaver

I managed to do this with approximately 7 minutes to spare.

Other than that, I managed to do a link-up of Kaiya (Spelling?) into Hiya. This may or may not be a first ascent. I think it was 9 or 10ish. Super fun and techy. Although, I could only work the route for a couple tries a day unless I took a break otherwise my knee began to hurt. If it has yet to be named, I knight it Dragonfly's Dance. If not, oh well.

The second route would be a new one on the Wretch. This route starts up Riding a Deadman's Harley (11) and follows a new route across the face that moves from the start of Deadman's Harley (8) to the end of Wilford's Wretch (6/7). This route is probably 10 or 11. We will have to wait for someone else to decide. Probably a ten, a beautiful one at that. As with the theme of the boulder, I personally will call the route Green Glass Door. This route is beautiful and covers a large distance on the boulder. Hopefully someone else does it soon.

Reruns and Photos

Tribal Vibrations

Then, Dragon Force: Living in Infamy

Sloppy Seconds and the Dream Phase

Time and I are at odds.

I need time. Time lets one grow. Without time, I would be forever stuck on this never-ending plateau. But time also limits my growth, for it is not infinite. I have to work within it's set confines.

However, I also am the master of time. I create time, just as each and every other person creates time. Time is unique. Time is only there because a person may perceive a passing moment and record the past. Whereas in truth, there is only the present, hence time does not exist because at any given moment there is only the instant. So perhaps every moment is occurring over and over on different dimensions giving the perception of time.

Either way, I wish time would go slower and give me time to heal and climb. But, the good news is I am back climbing. Taking occasional days of climbing and a week in Joe's (where my peak was No Substance) into account, I took 3 months off of climbing. Currently, I am into my third week of climbing.

The first couple of days were a bit of a challenge. Heck, the days now are a challenge. I was struggling to put down fours. Climbing fours is admirable for a climber. When a person knows that at one point they could do better, but at that moment they can't, it is mildly disheartening. There was however a plus to climbing a maximum grade that I passed in the climbing gym. The situation put me in a position to go to boulders I never had any desire to attack before. I opened up to quite a few boulders I had never been on before. Of the new-to-me boulders, I think my favorite was the Manual labor boulder. There is an awesome 6 called the Pulaski. Sharp holds, great movement.

Other boulders/routes that I jumped on that I would recommend:

Dr.J Boulder- The 4 on there is definitely worth checking out. The rock quality is questionable in place (I broke one of the holds I was thinking about using).

Dragon Force Boulder- This boulder is entering the ranks of the Wretch and Spearpoint (exciting news on Spearpoint to come). With the two routes from last year (there is FDP, Fossilized Dinosaur Poo, and Living in Infamy, graded10 and 10), Marc has added two eights. The Honey Badger (funny, I think I heard that name in another area) and 8000 Beats Per Minute. I would have to say Honey Badger was the better of the two with awesome intro moves into V6 for the finish. I did 8000 BPM by myself. Go there, that's heady.

Ahona Boulder- On Ahona a relatively new route was put up last fall. The route, When Life Gives You Lemons, should be on everyone's ticklist. Following a sloper arete on the right side of the boulder's steep face you move up out left onto the face after falling into a left-hand two finger pocket. You lock into a solid undercling, and then make an enormous throw out to the last pocket on Ahona Verdugo, the eight on the boulder. After doing this route, I am inclined to say it is not a nine, but more of an eight, possibly seven. However, I will say out of all these new routes this was my favorite.

Spearpoint- Although I have no real news about this boulder, I saw a possibility on this boulder that excites me. I thought it was most definitely climbed out. Last year Terry did a new route called something like Spear Chuckin' Baby Throwdown. This route goes the reverse way of Babies for Breafast and up Ho-down Throwdown. Well, if you start on the three and kind of shift up along Tribal Vibrations. Instead of going up though, you hit the start holds of the stand up nine that goes up the obvious crck that moves to the right. From there you sould cross onto this crimp and move to the jug on Ho-down Throwdown. The crimp is on the left side of the right slanted crack. Should be obvious if you look at the boulder. Spearpoint is by far my favorite boulder with the largest concentration of hard climbs.

Spearpoint and Ripper. Best boulders on the mountain.

Reincarnation, sadly, is not instantaneous

There is much of nothing to say. The weeks preceding Joe's were spent in a state of rest where I would take a week off climb once and repeat. This being rather uncharacteristic of me has a reason. I managed to hurt my finger, completely intentional, by campussing. As I well know, everyone is very interested in the background story. Well I was feeling like a was hitting a rather high peak. Crushing (plastic) projects had been the agenda on the two days of climbing previous to the injury. Adapting myself to a stress much like what I would encounter in Joe's (climbing multiple days on), I was often climbing 5 days in a row. So I was thinking, third day on this can't be anything but healthy for me. I threw down with some huge move routes, which a rarely do, and then proceeded to the campus board to finish up this short session. The small rungs, beckoning me to climb them, decided to beat me. In all honesty, I was feeling invincible. Going up and down with three fingers exhilarated me. Only planning on doing six sets, I began to feel pain on the fourth set. I taped tighter. I finished off the sets with constant pain in my right finger. The pain wasn't crippling; however, it was building my apprehension. I took one day off after. Two days later I returned to the dungeon (garage/climbing gym) only to be pushed away.

The next three weeks slowly ate me.

And then, the Joe's trip arrived. I was going to climb at my lowest, a depressing notion. Not only that, but I was fearful that I would make it all the way down there only to find I still couldn't climb.

Turns out, I could climb. The highlight of the trip was succeeding on No Substance. Looking back, it is mildly depressing to see that as the pinnacle of my trip. My last year trip which lasted only three days was much more successful. Despite my negativity on here, it was an amazing trip; climbing again felt fantastic. The Saturday traveling back from Joe's, I attended a competition in Sandy, Utah. Here, I was shot down. My finger was once again hurting; the same one and a new one: lucky me. After destroying two routes (beginner top-ropes), I waved the gang sign and disappeared.

A comment on this competition: I was disappointed in the way routes were set. They used liked colored holds and no tape. Now I would agree this is awesome they have enough money to pull this off, but if you have a yellow route next to a dirty white route, not cool. Not speaking from experience or anything though.

Upon my return to Cody, I found myself with finger pain when I attempted to climb. There was yet another competition I needed to attend to meet the minimum requirement for local competitions to pass on from regionals. The competition, on the sixteenth in Bozeman, MT went down in much the same way. Do (two) route(s), roll out. After the competition, I went with my father to bikram yoga. If you ever have a chance, go.

Over my actual spring break, I did not climb once. That is a depressing truth. One of those things a person hears and goes, "Wow, that is like child abuse." And I would say, "Yes. But imagine something twice as detrimental to a person's mental health."

Now, currently still on time off. I wait for this weekend, yet another comp where all I will do is make my presence known and lose some money. I will try to climb in the beginning, but if any thing goes south (why is south bad?), I will immediately stop.

Wish me luck on the healing. Time. Time is such a fickle thing.

The Psych Runs Through

I have been training for nationals, and this weekend that just past, I went to youth nationals in Boulder, CO. This competition was weird. It was not because the competition itself was weird; I was feeling out of it.

The first day, Saturday, I went out of isolation at 4:30PM. I had spent the whole day wasting time while waiting for my time to climb. I started warming up at around 3:15. I climbed every 10 minutes or so. At 3:45, I reported to isolation in the building where the competition was. There they had warm up walls about the size of what I have been climbing on all winter. AS competitors had been told, there was limited warm up space. This wasn't a problem however; I had previously warmed up at the Spot. I went out after 30 minutes of being there.

Jumping on the first route, I quickly made it to the last 3 moves. In a rather awkward move a made it through the crux and finished it up. Although the route was probably V3, I had almost messed it up and was rather shaken. After 4 minutes, it was onto the second route. This route was quality except for the awkward-ness in the middle. I fell there once before completing the route. The 3rd route I messed up at the end and never completed it. The fourth route I had a high point where only three or four made it past that point but many made it there. I ended up in 19th place and did not move on to semi-finals.

This was rather depressing being that I had put so much time into being prepared for this competition. Now that is nigh on silly to say though, doesn't everyone that didn't make it feel that way though? Probably. I messed up and learned from it though. I haven't been on big moves like the routes had in forever. Training on an 8x12 wall frankly doesn't prepare a person for that. I own primarily crimps because they are cheap. I'm not really trying to give myself an excuse, but I am haha. This mess up was my fault. I wil be better prepared next time. There will be no mistakes. By failing, I have only been more motivated.

I climbed at the Spot the two following days. I really came to understand my weakness there. There are approximately three crimps in the Spot Gym. Ok maybe a small exaggeration, but not that big one. During this period, I felt much empathy for Alli Rainey. Alli lives in Tensleep where the climbing has an enormous emphasis on technical climbing. She has been traveling out the Red for the last two years or so(?). Here she has just been being set behind being that although she has fingers of steel (I wish I had a better description) but not the full body strength to swing herself through the air time after time (this is changing from what I read). Being that I do climb on a rather small wall to make difficult routes, I make them with small moves and microscopic hold (in comparison to the Spot's at least). This in no way prepared me for the competition. I'm just not cut out to be a thug!

That will hopefully change though. Despite my limitation, so called, I most definitely had the ability to make it into semi-finals at least; I just messed up. Explosiveness is a necessity.

Considering alternatives, I used the kettlebell today. I am trashed. The muscles that have been torn down are hopefully useful in climbing. With the rope season approaching, there is training to do. Endurance may not be the most fun, but I plan to do it.

hopefully somebody has made it this far into the post because here is the important part: a question from me to you. I know that a lot of people read my bog (mild sarcasm) but what do you do for endurance training? What are your feelings on weights? I have access to a hangboard, campus board, and an 8x12 wall.

With nationals out of the way, I am not one bit more relaxed; however, I am sad it is over. The whole process is something to love. Honestly, I need to thank my parents for taking me to places like this all the time, thanks! This time was also a little different. Sunlight Sports helped me go. I can only say thank you for that and keep working to be a better employee. It was super nice of Wes and Melissa, the owners, to help out. I was also psyched to represent La Sportiva at this comp, even though it was only for a day. As a side note, I have found the the Testarossa, made by Sportiva, is the best climbing shoe in the universe.

It is time to ready myself for the real season though. I go to Joe's Valley the 2nd of April for a week or so then hopefully I will get out for another week a week after that. Otherwise, I will soon be climbing outside in Cody again.

It's been a while

Quick update before School, thought it might be a good idea.
First off, most importantly, I have had two good days outside the last two days. The first day we, Drew and I, made it outside for three hours before I had to go to work. Drew punched out Nipple Mechanics with ease. The highlight of my day was a new(?) route on the blank check boulder straight up the face. I started from some obvious crimp around chest height; there is still a sit start to be done. Yesterday, Drew and I went climbing for 4 and a half hours. The high was 16 degrees F. It was fantastic I managed a new route with a dab. So, of course, I have to go back to do it again and gain legitimacy in my mind. Maybe I will do that when it is a little warmer... Speaking of other news though, I managed to make it to youth bouldering nationals. It is coming up; it is approximately 3 weeks away. School calls.