Getting Warmer

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It seems like it’s been a while since my last post here…
It’s the middle of April finally and I’ve been able to get my hands on a little more rock since our last trip to Red Rocks.
Upper Area of Ogden's boulder field
So far we’ve made trips to Joes Valley and Ogden a few times which have been great.

Our trip to Joe’s Valley a few weeks ago was great too. It was our first climbing trip of the spring and I was really eager to see how I measured up on some new routes I wanted to project.
Unfortunately it was during spring break and Joe’s was pretty crowded. We tried climbing in a few areas that we hadn’t been to before to see if we can avoid the crowd.
We played around in the Mine Cart area up Left Fork and did a really fantastic problem in the v3 range called The Wave

We’ve done a bit of bouldering here in Little Cottonwood as well, though the south side of the canyon is still covered in snow. Hopefully within the next few weeks things will start to dry up so I can get back to working some projects.
I really dig the boulders on the other side of the river in the canyon. The rocks aren’t right off the side of the road, so they don’t see half of the traffic some of the other areas get. The boulders aren’t drilled or chipped in any way either, so the problems are mostly made of up desperate slopers and committing high-balls.

I’m looking forward to a fairly tall v3 that I haven’t tried yet in an area called The Swamp. The boulder sits right next to a beat up building that was once probably a little picnic area(now it’s covered with graffiti and trash)
The line itself is really beautiful though and follows an obvious weakness up the center of the rock and consists of a series of flat ledges and technical movement.

My other favorite spot on that side of the river is called the Hidden Forrest. While the river is raging during the spring it’s a bit of a hike to get to, but the seclusion is totally worth it. Some of the few videos I have of Jacey and myself climbing were shot there(see my “Viddy” section…)

I must say that it’s been hard to stay focused purely on climbing so far this spring. The weather seems to be having a hard time making up its mind about what season it wants to be, and while it’s sunny 70+ weather one day, you’ll have rain for the next three, and 12 inches of new snow in the mountains. Thankfully Brighton hasn’t closed for the season yet, so we’re able to get in some really fantastic morning sessions in up there before the snow starts to warm up.
Hopefully within the next few weeks I’ll have been able to get a few more climbs in. The sport climbing areas are starting to get into season so I’m sure another trip to Maple Canyon will be in order soon.

In other news, Jacey and I have both picked up some 5.10 Hornets from Backcountry.com. It seems like this is the last season they’re making them, so we snagged some of the last few pairs for an awesome deal.

Jacey climbing up one of my favorite slabs in the canyon

Jacey climbing up one of my favorite slabs in the canyon


Planet of the Apes in Joe's Valley

Planet of the Apes in Joe’s Valley

Stoking the Fire

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Everyone can start to feel it. The cold winter weather is subsiding, lifting the blankets of snow off our spring-time projects. This winter has been a little disappointing so far here in Salt Lake, and I’m starting to get psyched about climbing season.
We’ve been trying to hit the gym a little more often, and I’m starting to feel strong again, so I can’t wait until I can get back on the rock again!
The talk of going to Moab next month has come up a few times, so hopefully Jacey and I will be taking a little vacation down south soon.

Something that always seems to help is watching some sick climbing videos!
I present to you a few of my favorite videos around the web-

Tomorrow I Will Be Gone from Outcrop Films on Vimeo.

ABYSS – North America’s Highest Bouldering from Louder Than Eleven on Vimeo.

The Swiss Account ~ Feature Length from Louder Than Eleven on Vimeo.

Red Rocks, NV

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To kick the new year off right, we only figured a trip to Vegas would suffice. Good thing we have a connection too, because spending time in LV really adds up!
We had about 5 days of time off, so we hurried down south to escape the brutal pollution that plagues Salt Lake City(Smog Lake City?)  as fast as we could.

a breath of fresh air

a breath of fresh air

We had never climbed in Vegas before, so we were super eager to see what it was all about. Unfortunately, we’re never able to leave as early as we plan, and our first night in Vegas was spent drinking in the room, followed by a brisk walk down The Strip.

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After a strong cup of coffee, we rushed off to pick up a guidebook and crush some boulders! We were greeted by majestically striped and spotted rock ranging in colors from red to yellow, to white, and the beautiful dark sandstone varnish.

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We spent a lot of time exploring all the different canyons and seeing what Red Rocks has to offer. After a lot of walking around, we settled down and got our game faces on. I spotted a beautiful traverse on a sloping lip named The Alexisizer. It goes at a moderate v6 and has some really amazing movement and powerful moves.

Mid crux on The Alexisizer

Beginning of the crux on The Alexisizer

Jacey sending Potato Chips

Jacey sending Potato Chips

Due to some really gnarly wind and a bit of rain, we were cut short on our climbing. Pretty big bummer since most of the time we were checking out future problems.
Regardless of the climbing done, we had a super awesome time checking out a new climbing area that’s so close by. We’ll surely be stopping back at Red Rocks soon.

A family of burros wishing us farewell
 

Getting cold out…

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Not much new in life for the past month. The occasional snow fall has put a damper on the outdoor climbing here in SLC, so we’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to head down to the desert again.

In other news, both Jacey and I bought some new climbing shoes! We’re both super excited. Jacey got herself a pair of La Sportiva Pythons, and I picked up a pair of 5.10 Dragons.
We’ve only had one morning at the gym so far to try them out and we’re just itching to get out and try them where it counts!

So far, the Dragons have performed up to my every expectation. The aggressive camber of the shoe really drives your toes into the foothold and give you incredible power. And naturally, due to the downturn of the shoe, it lacks the ability to smear well, but that’s no problem since it’s something to expect.
With the shoes I was already able to reach new high-points on my projects at the gym, so I’m hoping that translates well to the outdoors.

We have a trip to Joe’s Valley again coming up this week on Thursday or Friday. The weather looks good and we’re hoping to get a real solid weekend of bouldering in before it’s time to break out the snowboards!

Embracing the Fall

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The cooler temperatures are starting to really bring out the fall colors here in Utah. It also means that climbing season is almost into full swing.
This past weekend, we took a quick day trip to Maple Canyon that left me with a bitter sweet feeling.

Sport climbing isn’t really my thing, but I’m trying to open my mind a little bit and start clipping some bolts. After a few successful days sport climbing here in SLC up Big Cottonwood Canyon, we decided it was time to take a little trip down south to see what we could accomplish.
Maple Canyon is known for its steep and long jug hauls up cobbles. The cobbles are smooth and really friendly on your skin, and there’s sick looking overhanging routes everywhere.
We started with some insanely long warmup routes that pumped me out quick(not such a great warmup) but after my forearms settled down, we moved on to an awesome wall called Pipeline. The routes here were all about 40-50 ft long and it was shaped like a huge wave turning over.
Jacey and I had our eyes set on some hard 5.11′s. I almost got the onsight of the first 11c we hopped on, but I fell before clipping the last bolt. I banged my knee on the short fall and ended up giving myself a charlie horse and got lowered back down. UNFORTUNATELY, after a quick run to the bathroom, I came back to the route only to find the rope pulled and draws taken off. Huge bummer, but I think I will be able to get it next time we head down.

After we pulled the rope, the rest of the climbing party wanted to move on. Our next destination was the Zen Wall.
We just did a short 10a called Buddha Belly here to keep ourselves warm. Short and sweet, and lit a little fuse that made me want to return to the Pipeline to give its namesake route, an 11d, an attempt.
It was getting dark, so I knew we needed to hurry. Everything started really good, and I cruised passed the 4th bolt until I was staring at the crux, right before the last bolt, and right before my hardest onsight(and hardest sport climb I’ve ever done)
The crux is a hard move around a bulge right before the climbing gets easier and you can stand up to the chains. I reached as far as I could, but to no success. I was pumped and took the fall.  After being lowered down to rest, I cursed myself for not going for it a little harder. Failure is part of life, and I need to embrace the falls if I want to get any further in sport climbing.

In the end, I was pleased with the fact that I got so far on both onsight attempts on some hard and steep 5.11. I got to enjoy some incredible fall colors, and climbing on some of the coolest routes I’ve been on.
I look forward to my next trip down to Maple Canyon.

Back To The Old Stomping Grouds

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This past weekend, Jacey and I were able to take a quick trip back to Casper, WY to visit some family from out of town and get some climbing in!
One of my favorite places to sport climb is Fremont Canyon(much more known for its crack climbing). I don’t know why… I never really want to go sport climbing unless I’m in Fremont. One of the coolest little finger canyons named the Love Shack hosts some s few really great sport climbs, including a route I’m still working on- The Stinger 11c/d.

Packing for the trip

It was great seeing friends and rolling out to the bars to get a little weird. One of my favorite things about being from a small town is that everywhere you go you seem to run into people you know, especially on a Saturday night at a bar. It was a old co-workers 21st, and I had an awesome time chatting with old friends.

Amazingly, the next day we were still feeling down to climb, and despite having to drive 6 hours back to Salt Lake, we decided to head to Fremont Canyon to clip some bolts.
We got to the Love Shack with about an hour and a half of climbing time, so we decided to hop on an old favorite of mine, Hasta La Vista, a 10b

Chris sending it on TR

It was a “Sendtember” confidence booster. Jacey is usually the one to want to go sport climbing instead of bouldering, so I’m totally out of endurance, but I still managed to climb it clean without any resting. Not too hard at all, feels like a tall V1 boulder problem with maybe a 2 move V2 sequence halfway through before a nice jug haul to the anchors.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get back out to Casper in the next month or two to catch some more prime conditions to send a few of the harder routes.

the bad part about road trips…

A few from LCC

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Little Cottonwood Canyon Classics – Episode 1 from Wagon Productions on Vimeo.

This is a SICK series of videos from a co-worker at Backcountry.com. This one showcases Bronson Arete (7B+) and Alzheimer’s (7B+) in the Riverside and Stephan (7A/+), and the classic Euro (7C+) from up in White Pine

Sick boulder at White Pine

Amazing sunsets from up the canyon

beers and bouldering!

At the Riverside area relaxing

Almost Back Into Full Swing

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The temperatures are dropping and that means that it’s time to bust out the camping gear and get ready for some more climbing!
This past Thursday, we were able to escape the city and sneak in another short trip down south to Joe’s Valley. This time, we were actually able to camp for 2 nights and climb for a whole day instead of our usual Friday day-trips.

base camp

We got up relatively early Friday morning and got right to it after our breakfast.

Jacey running up some 8:30 am warmup laps in Tevas

Luckily we were able to score out preferred campsite that’s just about 100 ft from the best warm up area in Joe’s. After running up a few handfulls of lowball problems ranging from V0-V4, we were properly warmed up and ready for some adventure!

We upgraded our guidebook finally to Isaac Caldiero’s new Joe’s guidebook recently, and we tried to go check out some area’s that hadn’t been developed at the time my first guide had been published.

Our destination: Dairy Canyon

Not the typical Joe’s Valley scenery

Dairy Canyon is an awesome area at Joe’s Valley located about 7.6 miles up Right Fork. It’s a great change of scenery for those a tired of trying the same problems over and over. It’s located at a higher elevation, as well as hidden away in the forest so you get a little more shade and cooler air.

Sitting atop my throne after a quick little V4 flash

It was nice to boulder away from traffic driving by or other climbers blasting dubstep. We were treated to a quiet mountain side with the occasional cow mooing. The aspen forest in the surrounding area was certainly a treat and will be awesome a little later in the year when the rest of the leaves turn yellow.

Jacey became a wood nymph

We finished up the day of climbing with some skin friendly slab routes at the Mansize area. I also finally sacked up to try a semi tall V2/3 called Lord Calvert. Not too hard at all, just thin crimps up a steep, shallow dihedral. Quite the exciting climb!

This trip to Joe’s was pretty productive. I didn’t really push any limits, but we were able to do some great exploring of newer areas and get a lot of moderate climbing done. I’m super stoked for my next trip down south to hopefully send a few projects.

Also be sure to pick up the most recent Joe’s Valley guidebook by Isaac Caldiero too. If you have anything published before that, you’re missing out on a lot of new boulders!
Most of the new areas host hard problems, but there’s still some great moderate problems here and there.
As usual, the grades can get questionable sometimes, but for all the problems we climbed, they all were pretty close to how it actually felt.
The guidebook is AWESOME. There’s detailed pictures of the boulders with the line of the problem clearly marked. Super helpful for even seasoned Joe’s veterans. Click on the picture to snag a copy of the guide!