Tripod Stills

Took some time to get out of the house and decided to use the Infusion tea gift card I won during PRG’s Struggle Bus competition. I thought I would be clever and try updating this page from my laptop, but who knew that public Wi-Fi wasn't so reliant? It's not too much of a problem, since phones nowadays have mobile Hotspots. 

The weather has been a bit garbage for rock climbing but at least it's getting cooler. It keeps raining every week so I've been spending most of my time indoors training, dreaming, setting. Recently, I've been perusing the r/climbing discord and the topic of photos came up, and how some people were questioning if it was possible to get good photos even though they didn't have a buddy with a camera. Because of this, I've been taking some time to go through the climbing footage I have and grabbing tripod stills from the various send and projecting sessions. Some of this has come out pretty good, so this is proof that not every good climbing shot has to come from a handheld camera with lots of labor. I shared some of these on the gram and on the discord. Might as well also post them on here. The photos are only from 3-4 months, but it feels like forever. I can't wait to get more footage from the fall season (and hopefully Hueco). I'll probably get around to posting some shots Joe has took of me this past season too. 

Regarding Hueco, I still haven't made reservations, so I'll need to get on that. I hope to do it either tomorrow, or by next week. 

Here are a few of the stills:

Choss Origins Kneebar

Bobby doing the cross on Truffle Shuffle

Doing the unwind on Truffle Shuffle

Bad Ass Drop Knee

Crimping on the Game Changer

Gunning for the jug on Game Changer

Moving into the crux of Big Block/Stinky Ass

Drop Kneeing on the Super Roof

 

Monsoons and Ramblings

Went out to the draw yesterday after two weeks of sport climbing with the intent of working Streetfighter and Receptionist. I instead ended up wandering up to Twister after finding out that some members of Phoenix Rock Gym and Nico were there. We did get rained out, but I got a repeat of Twister while it was dry. That being said, it wasn't too bad- I didn't get much sleep and was lacking in energy. Furthermore, there's a certain pleasure squirreling away under a roof hearing the thunderstorms, watching the rainwater travel down the holds, and avoiding the hail.   

Soaked Saucer Roof and Floorpie Roof

Makeshift Umbrellas. Trail is soaked. 

The Draw in its soaking glory.

The bet with Noah is still ongoing, and there seems to be no signs of relief from the monsoons, so time seems to be running out. Progress on the Receptionist has been pretty stagnant, as I haven't made it back there since a month ago with Kevin. 

I've been back in the gym trying to develop my familiarity with the open hip stance so going out into the headwall doesn't shut me down as much as it used to. I'm mainly focusing on gently overhanging terrain for the fingers and the roofs for the movement, with my warmups using Power Company Climbing's rooting drills. Gym climbing is tough, the harder grades force powerful movement, which is something that doesn't come naturally to me. Two hours is enough per session, as that's when my coordination and tension goes to the trashcan. Additionally, I'm working on including some hangboard repeaters twice a week that uses the four finger drag, 3 finger drag, and spock grip. 

Mentally, my focus toward Receptionist hasn't been much of a "need-to" mentality, but a "want-to" mentality. The bet and send doesn't really mean much to me at the end of the day, but I would be curious to see if my roof climbing skills will hold up. I haven't really felt that I needed to be strong for a climb until this one, so I'm interested in seeing what a strong and focused version of me looks like. Progression wise, by the time I do this, I know it means that I've successfully applied my current roof knowledge that I've spent the past two years acquiring, and that I have a good base to use for the rest of my roof climbing journey. Cheesy, yes, but damn, it's exciting. I can't wait to go back! 

Surf Pics

 Another possible world in which I went to California for work instead of Arizona: Surfing instead of Dangling. 

Mt. Lemmon

Yesterday I went to Mt. Lemmon with Halo and co. (Noah, Paul, Kim, Carmen, and Dom) and we got spanked pretty bad at Windy Point West. We spent most of the day sketched out on 5.7 slab and sandbagged 5.10+ (looking at you Life and Transfiguration!). That being said, it wasn't all too bad. What we lost in climbing, we made up for cute pictures of Milo and beautiful viewpoints of Lemmon. 

"Guys, you've been getting smacked around all day long, let's just call it and go home"

"Look! It's pretty"

Definitely more adventurous of an approach than the draw...

Catalina Highway

I didn't really understand it before, but granite climbing is a whole other beast, so much props given to the Tuscon locals. This thrashing makes me want to talk about certain climbing styles and what they require from my limited and personal experience. From what I can tell, I'm more of a "hold" climber. I like to grab certain grips and move from one grip to another. The movement here is usually more athletic and straightforward. Some types of rock, like limestone and volcanic tuff have that kind of terrain. On the other side of the spectrum, there's "feature" climbing, which doesn't really have holds as it is more of having your body fit into a box. It's much like climbing on volumes in the gym, which is probably why I'm so bad at it (as I avoid volumes heavily). This seems like it falls into more of the granite and sandstone type of climbing. Additionally, I realized that my eyes are not trained to recognize how to read granite rock. Learning to recognize crystals is a hell of a lot different than recognizing how to hold a certain grip. It's such an interesting game and it's humbling to be so bad at it. I'm looking forward to coming back to learn this style of climbing, but maybe not at this particular crag. I think if I had a choice, I would like to climb at some crags that supported more straightforward movement, like Raycreation, Ireland, or the Orifice crags until I figure out how Lemmon climbing works. Then, I'll return here and perhaps the experience will be more manageable. That, and maybe slab climbing won't be as scary. 

Just gotta keep learning and trying. 

The Pit

Not much to say here. I'm usually a boulderer, but even pebble wrestlers need to get off the ground at some point. Ended up going sporto mode with Noah, Halo, Carmen, Kim and Dom. The Pit's nice, the holds are good, and the movement is athletic. I did a classic at the Pit, called Mr. Slate, a 80 foot jug haul clocking in at 5.10b. I might come back and elaborate a bit more on my relationship with sport climbing at a later time, but for now- photos. 

Yours truly on the onsight with some B&W action on Mr. Slate

Me Onsighting

Me throwing up the dub after not pumping out on jugs

Carmen moving through the crux

A nice high step done by Carmen

Carmen shaking out before her whip 30 seconds later

Dom cleaning it up

Dom airing it out

Dom with the shaka's and rest

A good gaze outwards

The end of the day

I also scouted out a potential project, the pulse roof, which is primarily a roof with a little headwall, which is entirely my thing, being a roof dangler and all. Two videos, the first by Flagstaff all-around crusher, Joel Unema, and the second by Tuscon crushers Alex McIntyre and Jake Croft are shown below. Thank you for uploading the footage on youtube for me to grab!

Joel Unema

Tuscon guys

We then spent the last part of the day supporting Noah on his project, God Walks Among Us, which clocks in at 5.12b. Noah and I have an ongoing bet to see who will finish their projects (Receptionist at Priest Draw for me, and GWAU for him) by the end of October. If one of us sends, and the other doesn't, loser pays for others AYCE sushi. If both of us send, Halo pays for AYCE sushi. If neither of us send, we'll celebrate Noah leaving his job then at AYCE sushi and we pay separately. Either way, it's a win-win. 

0 V-points

The same day after I unsuccessfully came back from scouting Tony's Roof, I ended up setting up camp for the night, and wandered around the draw that afternoon until Joe came up for the night so we could take a crack at R God. It was a very humid day, and the motivation was lacking. I was pretty sure I was the only person at the draw for the moment, and I ended up once again at the Anorexic Roof. 

I ended up doing 3x3s on the most unique parts of Anorexic, Meateater, and Eatmeater. I'm not too sure what happened that day, but lots of the sequences felt hard. They were manageable, but maybe I hadn't warmed up enough. This might need to be a circuit of its own making. I did end up going back to Bat Roof to climb a few things, but I decided to not count those towards my V-point effort scale. At the Bat Roof, I ran into Amos, who founded the Ape Index gym in the West Valley. We climbed a few things, and showed some of the folks who showed up there some beta on how to cruise the Fin and Bat Cave. It's nice to see the newcomers be psyched. Sometimes, watching strong climbers crush things all day long isn't that interesting. The neophytes always bring a fresh view to the eyes through their excitement and enthusiasm. 

When Joe arrived, we ended up going to Puzzle Box to work R God. It was still as hard as ever, but we managed to eek out a few more moves, including the one with releasing the right toe cam, so that was improvement. I'm definitely stronger on this climb than before, so that's a good sign. Progress is sure, but it is slow. 

We then ended the night at Bat Roof with me and Joe switching roles, where I'm taking the photos and Joe is climbing. 

Due to me not finishing any official lines, I ended my day with a total of 0 V-points. Today was the first time that has ever happened, and I'm glad to learn that it's ok to come out and hang out. The rocks will always be here the next time I come back. 

The day after, I went to the Pit. The Pit was an interesting experience that warrants its own post, but before I do that, I would like to note that I spent some time in the morning working the Streetfighter traverse. I felt a bit more energized after getting some food into me, and managed to piece together the V4 section (the last half) of the traverse. Now, for the link. 

Backwoods Wandering: Tony's Roof

I made some notes about taking a look for Tony's Roof in the Gray Havens. Tony's Roof, unlike some of the bigger monsters out in the hinterlands, goes at possibly a mere V8, but would need a few more ascents to really confirm the rating. That being said, the grade is not the important bit, but the roof just looks fantastic from the footage I've seen. On 7/9/22, when the monsoons haven't been rolling through as often as they are now, I decided to take advantage of the good weather to go roof hunting. 

Using the treasure map, I tried following the directions in. I ended up doing some lonely rolling through through the forest roads on a Saturday. Some pictures below:

Nature's Welcome Gate

Burnt right down to cinders...

A common sight

I didn't end up scouting the locations and where to park very well, so I made some quick on-the-fly adjustments while tolling along the roads and decided to park in a viable spot as soon as it sprung up. Although the area was very devoid of human life, I had the company in the buzzing of some flies and crickets as I traipsed through the area. That being said, I kept alert as I wandered through the woods.

From my previous experience searching out the super roof and drop zone roofs in the woods in February a year or two ago, I came upon some paw prints resembling either a mountain lion or bear, which were around the area according to the locals, intersecting with a footprints of human and dog. I didn't bother checking which party came first, but I instead quickly scoped out the area and then left after hearing what was a loud sound. 

I ended up reliving a similar experience. As I was descending downwards down a slope in the woods, I heard a rustling sound and saw a medium-sized creature with brownish fur descending away. Odds are, it was a buck, but I didn't bother continuing and instead chose to retreat back to my car. 

After that relatively exciting encounter, I realized I was still a fair bit away from the roof, and decided to call it for the day. While going back to town, I decided to toll down another road, 9016N, which had an offshoot off of the normal road I was riding on. This road was awesome. There were plenty of ferns around and there was plenty of shade. This one ended up being more fruitful as I saw the limestone bands that normalize characterize these roofs, and I was within visual distance of what looked like to be it. Unfortunately, as I was hiking down the bands, I came upon a fenced out area, with a felony charge if caught trespassing. It looks like this area is under government survey. With the goal in sight, but no desire to have a mark on my record, I turned back once again. 

Valley of the Roofs

You can see what looks like to be a roof right there!

Maybe a few thousand years later, assuming no heat death, this may end up being another treasure.

Perhaps it was all the best that I turned back when I did, as it began raining right as I got into town, and I was not prepared for the possibility of my car getting stuck alone in the forest roads. 

Thor announcing his arrival with some storm clouds

Although an overall unsuccessful scouting mission, there were a few key takeaways. 

1. While eating lunch later on that day, I realized there was another entrance through Bellemont. So perhaps I will ride through that area. But for now, it might be back to the projects. 
2. Riding through the forest roads is a really fun experience. It's nice to put on some tunes on in the car and just ride it out. I was able to relive my child experiences in the woods whenever I had a chance. 
3. Things don't always have to be successful for it to be a good time. 
4. Bring a dog :) 

Backwoods Wandering: Overhaul Roof

I might make this as a series of posts which are titled as Backwoods Wandering so that I can log in entries of when I'm not climbing, and more of stuff I see when I'm hiking around the forests or desert. 

We (Kevin, Evan, and I) went searching for Overhaul Roof near Kelly Canyon on Sunday after our session on the roofs. Wandering the forest roads and following the bands of stone really do pay off. Even if what we found doesn't look that feasible to climb at the moment, it's worth it to explore the forests. 

James Canyon Rim

Overhaul Roof. Don't fall!

A blank monster 

Backwoods Wandering: A fish in a sea of trees

Went camping at the draw Sunday night. Other than the bugs, it was a pretty solid night!