Hiking and Drawing

The Priest Draw that is. Although the weather is hot and Humid we still headed out to climb some roofs. Here are a few shots of Collin and Dustin on "Twister".


The other morning I did a Hike/run up Mt Humphrey. It was supposed to be an easy day for me so I Mostly hiked up and then ran down. It was only the second time I have hiked to the top of the mountain, and just like last time I was the first person of the day to summit.
It's hard to tell from the photos, but some of the burned areas are still smoking quite a bit. I guess the fire is not completely out yet. I sure hope it doesn't flare up again.

Imogene Training Continues

I haven't mentioned it in a while but the Imogene Pass Race training is continuing. I hit a snag a few weeks back when my main training run got closed and burned by the fire up on the mountain. So I decided to do some lower elevation speed training, but the worked my way back to the hills.
Yesterday morning I got up early and ran from Buffalo Park, 7000', to the top of Mt Elden, 9200'.It was a 7 mile run up and a 6 mile run down. I took a shortcut down Upper Oldam trail which was awesome! So totaling 13 miles, which is the furthest I've run for a while, it felt pretty tough because there was a lot of steep uphill sections. But it was a great training run and I think I learned a lot about how I will have to run for the race. I am looking forward to going to Colorado at the end of the month to do some real training runs up some 14er's!!

Le Petit

We've been spending a lot of time @ The Pit recently. The afternoon temperatures have been nice and conducive to climbing hard. I finally sent "Total Recall" 5.13b, and Kim is getting Very close to sending her first 13, "No Joke".
This past week though, the Monsoons have finally started rolling in during the early afternoons and ruining the rest of the day with lots of humidity, but we still are trying.
This past weekend Dustin and I got on "Terminal Vector", an old project of mine, and while it was fun the humidity prevented any sends.

Winslow Wall

We did not go far for this holiday weekend, which may not make sense to sum, but makes perfect sense to me. Before I lived in Flagstaff we would always go to Flagstaff for the Holiday weekends. The climbing here didn't get worse just because I live here now.
So Saturday we stayed very local and worked our projects @ The Pit. No sends, but several high points. Sunday however, we headed to the Winslow Wall.
We were not the only people with that idea. There was more people there than I had ever seen before. Everybody needs to quite telling their friends how good the place is or it will be impossible to climb there.
Although it was crowded and hot, Jonathan climbed very well and came away with the send of the day by onsighting "Standin on a Corner" 5.10+. Way to go J-Mo!

Fire destroys that which feeds it. - Simone Weil

As most everyone knows, Mt Humphreys has been burning for the last week. It started last Sunday when some campers failed to extinguish their camp fire. This photo was taken the first day just one block east of my house.
This photo was also taken the first day by someone hiking up the east side of the mountain only to summit to the site of the west side on the mountain burning. I took this photo from his blog where he has many more amazing photos. Just click on the photo below and it will take you to his blog.


So at this time the fire is pretty well under control, with mop up operations still underway. I guess things could have been worse, but most of the east side of the mountain burned, along with a lot of the trail that I was running on as training for the Imogene race. If all goes well they say that people will be allowed back on the mountain by July 21.

When in doubt, go BIG

June 19th and 20th, the team heads back to the Enchanted Tower. We all have high aspirations but we are feeling fit and ready to send.
On Saturday after warming up, Kim and I start working our projects before they go into the sun for the afternoon. Unfortunately neither of us sent in the morning, but we decided to give them one more try in the evening after the sun had set. This strategy proved successful for me at least as I sent the 115' long "Ripped Van Winkle" with the last bits of light left in the day!

Jeff pulling into the second half of "Ripped Van Winkle"
Sunday morning we were up bright and early again, and Kim was highly motivated as usual. This time it did pay off and she sent her route "David" first try of the day.

After Kim's send, we headed over to the Frog Prince wall where our friend from Salt Lake City, Elizabeth, decided she wanted to climb the short, yet extremely steep and powerful, "Frog Prince". After a quick session to learn the moves, she made short work of that route!
And so was the end of another trip to the Land of Enchantment.....but.......to be continued.........

Interdisaplinary Programs

XKCD
I always knew I wanted to be a Physics major. They get to do the best experiments.
There is a link to this website over on the right side of the blog under "My Blog List". I know I talk about it regularly so more of you should check it out.

The Enchantment Continues....

We returned to New Mexico and the Enchanted Tower this past weekend for more long, steep, pocket pulling. Kim and I decided to get on "Zee Wicked Witch" 12c, one of the 35m routes on the front side of the tower. Essentially 2 routes stacked on top of each other because of the Jack Daniels pit stop, rest, in the middle of the wall, this routes provides a good 20 minutes of time on the rock.
Both Kim and I sent the route in short time and then we moved onto another link-up, "Ripped-Van-Winkle" 12d. This route combines the first half of Goliath, with the second half of Zee Wicked. It provides a harder first pitch, no rest, and the same hard crux finish as the previous route. There was no quick send here but it is one big step closer to sending Goliath!
After the long weekend of climbing we stopped at our favorite Pie shop in Pie Town, NM, for a tasty treat before the long ride home. What a great way to finish the weekend!

and Happy Birthday J-Mo!!

Ribs, Running, and Rock Climbing

Summer is in full swing and there is lots of activity going on.
Jonathan and I recently did an 11.7 mile run up and around the dry lakes of Mt Elden. It was really great and it felt pretty fast (at least for me). I do think that I need to start getting higher on the mountain to train at elevation more for Imogene.


Saturday I went up to the Peaks sport climbing area for the first time. Sam and Kim were in on the action. The rock in Dacite, which I have almost no experience climbing, so it was an educational day but still a lot of fun. Kim and I did some warm up and attempted some 12's, and Sam gave one of the several unsent projects a try.

And then there are the recovery days. Ribs, Ribs, and Ribs. 4 consecutive days this week. Yes I am a little worried that I will lose to much weight with all the running , but really I just LOVE RIBS! Nothing fuels the fires like Pork!

"Watch Yer Topknot"

I am of course quoting the great movie "Jeremiah Johnson". Just goes to show that tough men throughout history have been sporting the 'Topknot'!
But I digress , the holiday weekend of Memorial Day came upon us and along with some new recruits we headed to New Mexico and The Enchanted Tower. We were not the only crew with that idea but the days were long and I think everyone got in enough climbing to satisfy that urge.

Of the crew of mountain men, and women, was Jonathan. Another high energy addition to the crew.



Jonathan on Grendel
And then there was Hillary. New to the sport climbing game, but check out that Topknot. She's a natural!!
And then we have the Warrior Elite. Check out Kim sending "Shipwrecked" 12c. It used to be 12d but somewhere along the line got downgraded. It's not like the mono's got less mono-ie.
Look Ma, I can use photoshop!

I really like this next shot because of the rope. Kim can throw that rope out when I need it with ninja-like speed and Samurai reflexes. That's one awesome belayer!

Cherry Picking

Sam, Ana, Travis, and I went out to Cherry Canyon and I had them show me around. There are actually a lot of good problems there, the only problem is that all of the problems are so hard that they are a problem for me. We had a great time though and Travis took some really good photos of the days action.

3 days, 3 types of rock

Lets start with the Glorias, climbing so good that you just can't wait for the person before you to get off the boulder so you can start! Ya, it's that good!
I had not climbed there since 2000, so it was like going to a new area for me. The holds are small, but at least they are sharp, and it is just what I need to build up my tip strength.



Next on the list is 'The Pit' and it's Limestone walls. As per usual we all got on 'No Joke'. It has taken me a few tries but I finally got the repeat redpoint, and our new friend "The Boy Named Sue" got on it as well and showed an impressive performance. He may have even gotten the route 2nd try if he were to try climbing with this eyes OPEN!


Finally we went to climb on the sandstone of the Winslow Wall for the first time in 2010. We thought the water levels would be receded enough for a dry river crossing but we were mistaken. We had to make it through the 2' of fast moving current but it was all worth it. We got on all of the classics that were dry at the base, "Hasbro Arete", "Slap my Fro", "Winslowner", and of course "Grey Matter". It may take a few more weeks but it is going to be a great season down there!!

IT'S COMIN' RIGHT FOR US!!!!!

It was a suprisingly cool weekend, so we took the opportunity to spend one more day out at the Asylum before the heat of summer finally sets in on us.
Zoltan, Tosh, Jeff, and I had a great day at one of the best crags in Northern AZ. The climbing is so amazing and powerful, the weather was great, and as usual, nobody sent anything. But we failed gloriously!
I was to busy climbing to get any photos, but I do have some video that I took midweek. While I'm still in Payson, I had to get my "Redneck" on. As I was packing up for my move, I came across some expired cans of food and a lot of empty milk jugs. And as we all know, these items can be very dangerous and must be dealt with extreme prejudices!

Team Topknot Yoga Sessions

I spent Saturday @ the Priest Draw working on The Girl From Ipanema, without success, but I do feel that I am getting better @ the moves and it shall come together soon.
Sunday we decided to rope up and we took our new friend Jeff, from West Virgina, with us to Jack's Canyon. We ended up getting on some difficult and powerful routes that required flexability and contortion acts that bordered close to our limits. Check out some of the fun!!