Tuesday, February 24, 2009

T-Bone Shuffle and Manly Stuff.

Here I try some V6 dyno on the Thunderbird boulder.

Day 5 started auspiciously: Kristoph's bacon croissant + triple espresso + cinnamon raisin bagel! That's a breakfast.

T-bone Shuffle V4 - redpoint This problem was unlocked by Satoshi who decided that the left side pull was on. This unleashed the send train as T-bone was then mercilessly gang-banged by me, Masa, and Yusuke. Mark let it go because he didn't want to risk another flapper.
In the video I almost roundhouse Yusuke in the head after missing the crenellation. Yusuke's Redbull reflexes helped him to duck and block with his arm.
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Orifice Affair V1 - An amazing line of huecos, with a decoy hueco to mess you up. Below Takako works it out.
Manly Stuff V4 - We concluded the day on this muther ucker. Again Satoshi unlocked the door to the send train. Mark got it next - he pushed hard, stood tall, pulled it down, whipped out his manly stuff, and came on top. Double entendres all intended. I followed but only by exploiting a most positive hidden razor crimp (sneaky stuff). Big Yusuke almost had the right stuff, but didn't have time to work out alternate beta for his style.



18 point day

Yusuke had 14 point day... if only he sent Manly Stuff. Damn, kid is getting strong!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Hueco day 4.


In order to visit North Mountain we had to watch the orientation video. That's me in the back sleeping with the sunglasses on. I love the fact that no matter where the camera is, Mark turns to the lens and cracks a smile.

Here we are trying Daily Dick Dose V7 with the silly toe hook drop knee beta. Mark started using the heel hook gaston beta which we later found out is probably easier. None of us got it though. Thanks again to Takako for the photos.




This day sucked so bad I'm not even going to talk about it... I guess Carlsbad wasn't really a rest day for my weak ass since walking 2 miles underground for several hours wasn't exactly the same as lying in bed with a beer and watching cagefighting in your underwear.

Ghetto Simulator V2 - flash
Nobody Gets out alive V2 - failure
See Spot Run V6 - failure
Daily Dick Dose V7 - failure
Babyface V7 - failure
something next to babyface V2 - flash

More of my m.o. ... either flash it or forget it. I guess v6 or v7 is pretty ambitious given the fact that anything I've ever sent at those grades had been worked on for weeks, months, or years. So I shouldn't expect to just show up and send those guys. Sort of sucks though because classics abound in the v6-v7 range.

4 point day... yikes! Clearly out of gas. No amount of caffeine or creatine was going to revive my mitochondria or kick start my Krebs cycle on this day. Starting to wish I never came here because everything else with the exception of Bishop and Font is beginning to look like choss. I'm sure that's a common side-effect of Hueco and I hope it wears off once I depart.

Yusuke climbs into heaven...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Carlsbad Caverns - rest day

What better for a rest day than a visit to the largest hole in the ground in North America?
On the way to New Mexico we saw these yucca or joshua trees or something like them in bloom with their flowers sprouting out doing their best impression of something you'd find in a Dr. Suess children's book.
We also paused by what looked to be a salt flat. Its apparent whiteness unconvincing, Masa placed a piece in his mouth and exclaimed, "Salty!" We all admired his brave demonstration of the scientific method.
On the descent into the cavern, our resident geologist Mark was very excited. I pretentiously opted not to use the audio accompaniment, as I was not in the mood for recorded chatter while in the presence of nature's miracles. The caverns were so vast they probably could have contained ten thousand sport routes if climbers had discovered it first... I'm kinda glad that didn't happen. Unfortunately the bat show (a zillion bats fly out of the entrance that Mark is approaching above) only occurs between May and October. Right now I guess they're hanging out in Mexico (no pun intended.)
Ansel Adams said these caverns should not exist in relation to man. That's how out of this world they are. Seeing all the formations provided an organic view of geology; rock formations actually are born and die just like living beings. Only, the interval between the life and death of a geological formation is imperceptible to our hyperactive and greedy sense perceptions. We don't even grasp the interval between 75 years of human life and death; so when somebody dies we think it's the end, but it's only the beginning of another life. We are like rocks, just much softer and rocks are like us, just much slower. In climbing, that softness meets the slowness, but everything is moving - just at different rates.
I like the pic below of Takako jumping for joy. It's how I felt being on a bouldering trip for a week with good friends. Yusuke's wide angle seems to have caught Satoshi on a his way to relieve himself by the side of the road. I was going to crop it out but what the hell.