Il Bucco again.

Every sunset here is majestic.  

The surveillance camera attached to this old church kept its stygian eye on the crowd.

I like this shot John took.  It has the feel of a painting.  The primitive human structure in the foreground gives it something.  

This is me working an 11d/12a.  It was 26 meters tall, which added to the excitement.

At the top of the climb.  The roof is totally blank.

Heading to Rome...

At Rome. 

Monte Faito [sic?]

Monte Faito.  Tallest point in Amalfi.  Limestone crags in a pine forest shrouded by fog.  We were limited to the roadside crag because the trail to the moderate crag was guarded by hectares of thorn bushes about one story deep.  There was also a fiery sword spinning in all directions.

The italians like their saints.  They place icons everywhere, especially inside caves and crevices that look like they would make stellar sport climbs.

Here's John messing around an 11d we climbed.  They lower drops you into the road and consequently, oncoming traffic.  But from what I gathered about italian driving, they are more than prepared for a climber being lowered onto their windshields.

Sorry about the lack of climbing shots, but it was just the two of us... in order to get anything useful in a safe fashion, the climber went in direct and ideally the belay side fashioned a makeshift anchor, but it wasn't always  there.  

More Italy.

Day two was a rest day.  We went to a private beach that looked upon Naples and Mt. Vesuvius (the volcano that destroyed Pompeii.)  We didn't visit Pompeii.  I was there to climb and eat and not ponder ruins, which always seem to me to require a very capable, if not hallucinatory imagination to appreciate, since you're looking at mere remnants or traces that signify nothing to the untrained eye.

I also didn't realize the Mediterranean was salt water.  My excuse is that i'm american.  We hung out with a good friend of John's named Simona, adorable in all regards.  

Mediterranean beaches have a tendency towards the sizeable limestone pebbles and rocks instead of sand, which is a take it or leave it kind of thing... I left my chacos on.  

John duly noted that the ingenious sun shade design of the orange beach chairs allows you to hide from your enemies.  Unless they recognize your farmer's tan and hairy shins.

Amalfi Coast, Italy.

Decided to check out the limestone crags at the Amalfi Coast in Italy.  My friend John had hooked up free housing, so it seemed like a good idea.  Here's John at Franco's Pizzeria in Sorrento.  Look at all that prosciutto!

Don't let the look frighten you; on second thought, perhaps you should.  John is prone to possession.  I felt safe in a public place though.  If you receive 'the look' from John in private, you are permitted to flee.

Climbing day 1 = Il Buco at Positano, or "The Hole".  An impressive limestone (everything was limestone... if you flooded las vegas with sea water up to 7 or 8000 feet and just left the limestone cliffs at Mt. Charleston exposed, then built houses on said cliffs and dumped a gaggle of german and british tourists on to it, along with a millenia of catholicism, and you have the Amalfi coast) cliff running north south.  There is a huge hole in the middle about 30 meters tall flanked with deep runnels and lo and behold, sport bolts.
Here's John on a 10c or 10d warmup.

I would advise against a summer visit if you want to climb here.  It's a wee bit hot and humid.  We called up the guy who wrote the guidebook and he was up in the dolomites when he answered his cellphone.  We did not see a single other climber the entire time.  In fact, we didn't see hikers either.  In fact, most people looked at us like we were martians as we headed up the trail from town.

Here's John messing around in some of the huge limestone runnels.

Anorexic video.

I am now sorely tempted to purchase an HD camcorder. L started recording after the sit start, so I didn't cheat and skip that part. I would click on the video and go watch it at vimeo.com to see HD quality. I harnessed the power of the pink shirt for this one, a vital trick of the trade Mr. McKenna taught me.

Anorexic. from Hotel Sierra on Vimeo.

Anorexic at last.

Finally sent Anorexic.  Randy provided excellent beta, finding a bicycle move that eliminated the cruxy foot cut swing/campus silliness I had previously committed to.  With the bicycle, I could statically reach left hand to the undercling above the slopey plate.  I think there's video, but it's in Randy's panasonic camcorder trapped in .mts format so it might be awhile before I can post that.  Afterwards, we tried Bread Loaf, and Randy was able to send on the final try of the day.  

P and Othello at The Pit.

Leslie top roping a 5.11 at The Pit.  It was a little hot, and we were running low on water/food.  My hapless camelpak busted a leak (second one to do this) while inside my arcteryx miura.  I'm about to give up on water bladders as they seem to be nothing but trouble.  Got pretty dehydrated in the sun.  This may have thwarted my redpoint attempt on Aerial Vermin because my forearm muscles seized up and I couldn't close my hands.  Ah well, next time.  

Table trick.

Let's table that. from Hotel Sierra on Vimeo.

My friend Matt explained this to me when it was raining in New Paltz. So I gave it go in my New York office on Wednesday. I think there might be a couple of dabs, including a chair kick. I did get the onsight but table characteristics may play a large role. Plus I'm wearing approach shoes. I think full credit might require dress shoes.  At least it wasn't raining, and the air-conditioning had conditions at a cool and dry 73F, no wind.

Thug and Flail.

The vegas heat has forced us back up to Mt. Charleston.  Here's Othello the half-breed whippet sniffing around Compton Cave.

Tinkerbell works Infectious Groove 5.13b.  You have to fly like Peter Pan to do this route.

Farther up, another crux...

Unlike bouldering, thugging it out kind of backfires because you aren't done after 5 moves!  The crag is called The Hood though, so thugging is implied.  

Here's me back in Compton Cave working on Straight outta Compton 5.12d.  I'm messing up the moves here, as my left foot should be on the hold by my left hip.  

Tinkerbell on the tricky opening moves of Straight outta Compton.  The right foot shouldn't cut, but it makes for a good action shot.

Dark Shadows.

Dark Shadows - Pine Creek (I think)

P1 5.5 John:

The climb starts out above a creek on a very nice slab with thin holds and a couple of bolts.  John did exceptionally well.

A wider view of John on P1.
P2 5.5 Glen
P3 5.8 Glen
P4 5.8 Glen

I think this is me on P4.

J at the anchor at end of P4.

While waiting for our turn on this classic route, the first party dropped two cams somewhere during or after P4, in quick succession. One of them was the gold camalot, which bounced and then plunged into the creek at the base of the climb. After the second scream of "Rock!!!" a crew of philly climbers yelled back up, "What the f***??!!" They fished out the camalot and left it for the party who by then decided to back off the upper pitches of Dark Shadows.  Here we attempt to use a large branch to fish it out of the ice cold water.

 The party that dropped the gear came down, and we told them the cam bounced, implying that we'd never climb on such gear, and they shrugged and said, "Thanks, we'll get it looked at."

P2 was harder than the guidebook's 5.5. I nearly ate it using my approach shoes. P3 is the "money" pitch, and very photogenic. We didn't have doubles for our party of three, so we used two 60m sport ropes (10mm and 10.3mm). Well, I'll never do that again! They were heavy as hell, and not as smooth as real doubles.

On the last rope pull after rapping from P1, the ropes fall into the creek at the base of the climb. You can't avoid it. Everybody with the exception of two old timers spent an inordinate amount of time devising schemes to keep their ropes dry. Best scheme I heard was from Ben who suggested tying a shoe to one end of the rope and throwing it past the creek from the last rap station. The best realistic proposal was to let Dark Shadows be the last climb of the day so your rope could dry overnight.

Exchange of the day ( I think this was on a 5.11 trad climb next to dark shadows)
Climber 1: "I don't know... that looks hard."
Climber 2 on lead reply: "It's ok, I'm strong."

Carriage Path.

Bouldering with M and E of NJR on a nice carriage path day. Finally sent two classics that had eluded me for years. Here's a video of us trying Gill Egg.


Gill Egg - V4 from Hotel Sierra on Vimeo.

Here's a vid of me on Black Boulder.


Black Boulder - V5 from Hotel Sierra on Vimeo.

Taming of the Crew.

Bouldering crew, that is.


Scene I. Triple Right, a dank forest dwelling swelling with black flies and mosquitoes.
     [Enter King Matt, Lord Mark, Squire Jeff and sundry barons and such from New Jersey.]

King Matt: Use your feet! Push!
     [Gym Rat Boulderer struggles, falters. Whimpering.]
King Matt: Do something!
     [Gym Rat Boulderer falls.]
King Matt: How's that workin' fer ya??

Mark on a V4 called Captain Blowhard or something.  It has surprisingly nice movement, and is even a little long.  Atypical for the area.  The top out is notorious for creating beached whales.

L on the same.

Here's King Matt leaping towards the downclimb.  "Pretty Spry for an old guy," pronounceth the King.  One of the young guns from NJR looks on in amazement as a flash of techwick old enough to be his father bounds overhead.

I sent some stuff, but don't know the grades.  I think a V4/V5 by the initial warmup slab, then a V2/V3 on the arete with the spiffy undercling which I didn't use, and finally "Gillette" V6 over by Didactic Tactics and Captain Blowhard.  All names and grades are open to change; all I know is that it's a long walk and you better bring gallons of DEET.

Dabbawalla.

The balance has been off. I started leaving the camera at home since I seem to climb more without it. Also when most of your time is bouldering alone or sport climbing with one partner, its tricky to get good shots*. P is a gifted photographer, but when we go out climbing, the results often consist of a couple of butt shots embedded in a slew of cactii closeups. In the meantime, here's a video of my friend Tim (the Dabbawalla) sending Caliman V7 at Kraft Boulders. It's better than the one of myself because you can see the overhang better. Note JB's action with the pads to avoid the dabbage.

Tim on Caliman V7 from Hotel Sierra on Vimeo.

*However, this might be a good excuse to purchase a new comfier harness that I can spend extended amounts of time in to obtain good sport climbing shots.