Last Thursday, I gave myself a mental health day from work and went to the Draw again. I wanted to spend some time trying to work, and potentially send, Blockhead, since the last couple times I went, I wasn't really able to get in a good working session. Personally, I think it's that when I'm out with multiple friends, I don't want to hold them up by working a line, as my projecting process can be a bit tedious, and they didn't sign up to watch me fall off of a move and contemplate why I can't do something for an extended amount of time.
Anyways, I ended up giving the line a few goes from the beginning and my initial beta where I try for a right drop knee just wasn't working. I was suddenly inspired by a thought to use a right heel hook on the first initial sloper that I go to, and suddenly the move felt so much easier, with much higher percentage. It made sense, but I was surprised, as I hadn't used a heel hook in the middle of a sequence in so long. Sometimes, all it takes is a step back to reexamine your initial assumptions, and then the solution becomes clear. With that, I took a quick lunch break, and the problem went quite quickly, which marks this as the last independent line on the Bad Ass Roof, the first new boulder I have done this season, and one of my short-term projects this season. Sick!
This boulder also marks the first time I haven't gotten what I call: post-send depression. I'm not sure where it comes from, but usually after a project goes, I usually feel quite empty, as I hoped that maybe climbing would satisfy something I needed. However, unlike these previous lines, I felt quite satisfied. It is like that sometimes.
With Thursday ascent, I made a little video showcasing 4 lines on Bad Ass that starts from the back of the roof and climbs out to 4 different exits. In a way, it's a bit like Mars Roof, and therefore can be useful to build up basic roof fitness, power, and technique.
On Saturday, I made a return trip to the Draw, this time with Carmen and her friend Joy, who is from New Mexico, and who both are quite new to the Draw. We spent time at Bat Roof, where both of them made ascents of the Fin, and gave the Bat Cave some burns. We then went to Bad Ass to avoid some crowds, but it seemed like all of Phoenix and Flagstaff were at the draw, and we ran into a Phoenix crew and then a Flagstaff crew of Priest Draw OGs in short order. While Carmen and Joy tried a few of the lines, I ended up doing my first lap of what I'll call the Bad Ass 4, where I climbed all 4 lines in the above video, first go.
We then headed over to Mars Roof, where I made more progress on The Girl by doing all the moves in a session and chunking the climb into two from the start. I was also able to capture footage of me sticking the big sloper throw, so now I understand how the move works. It feels weird making so much progress, but I won't question it. I'll try to ride the wave for as long as I can.
Video from Skyler, Frame grab from yours truly
Also, although I'm not much of a highballer, I think that as I get more comfortable out trying some crazy stuff out in the woods, I think I'll get into it. Watch this, it's a good video.
Forest roads finally opened up, so it means that we can start getting out to all the roofs, those in the draw, and not.
I spent the weekend doing both. On Saturday, I initially planned on just hitting up Bad Ass to finish off Blockhead, but plans changed as usual. Instead, I hit up Super Roof with Tian for his first time to the roof, and met up again with Noah, who brought along Paul, Kim, and Tina, who never bouldered outside before. Luckily, Super Roof has plenty of easy limestone boulders to move around on for a newbie so there's something for everyone. I ended up treating Saturday as a fitness day, as I was able to climb Super Roof about 4-5 times, and then did Ultramega with no pads. We then headed over to Bad Ass with some beers, where I redeemed myself from last week by doing Bad Ass and Stinky Ass first go. By then, light was fading, so I spent about 10 minutes climbing on Blockhead, and I gave it a hail-mary go from the start. It didn't go, but I got a new high-point, so it wasn't a total bust.
Since it was Tian's birthday, we decided to treat him to Diablo Burger for dinner, since everyone deserves a nice meal on their birthday and then Tian and I went back to camp. We talked a bit about a book he was reading by Rick Rubin, The Creative Act, and it piqued my interest quite a bit that I decided to get the book for myself to take a gander at. According to Tian, halfway through the night, some cops decided to stop by and shine a light in my car, but I guess I got so wrecked from climbing so much I didn't notice (or I was turned the other way). They then moved on. Weird. I slept pretty well that night, so I guess in order for me to get a good rest, I just have to climb and be active for like 8 hours.
The next day, I was supposed to meet up with Bobby and some other folks (Anthony Lara, Noah Kiser, and Jake) to check out the revenant and rolling roofs on the rim. However, before that, I hit up Mars Roof with Tian to climb a bit on the Girl, one of the 4 lines on mars roof, and one of my main projects this season. It has been a while since I climbed on this, so I was surprised to still remember where all the holds were. I guess it's true, once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget.
The Bike, haha, get it?
Still got it!
Surprisingly, I was able to find out new beta for a personal crux, which was finding a way to end up with my left hand in a two finger pocket, and my right on a nice, high sidepull in preparation for the big slap out left. Last season, I ended up removing my right foot from the heart-shaped cam and decided to slot it in to a pocket akin to the cam on Bad Ass. It was always quite precarious for me, as I felt that it forced a really fast come-in move for my right hand. This time, I decided to keep my right foot in the heart-shape cam and to my surprise, it just worked. I was also able to stick the toss to the sloper for the first time in isolation, so Sunday marked the first time where I was able to do all the moves of the climb across different sessions.
As easy as 1-2-3
Afterwards, I headed over to the rim to meet up with the rest of the crew as Tian decided to call it a day and head back to Phoenix. I'm learning that I really do enjoy climbing and hanging out with people, so I'm going to work on asking more people to climb and hangout. The drive to I87 from Flagstaff was super pretty. Due the snowfall, both lower and upper Lake Mary were full so it was a good sight for sore eyes.
Revenant and Rolling roof were sick. Most of the roofs at the draw are low, but the ones out here are tall and proud. In similar style with other hinterland roofs, there's a short roof section which then ends up with the climber airing out a easier top-out above the pads. Shoutout to Wilson Cutbirth for finding this one! I climbed a bit on Rolling Roof, FA'd by roof wizard Matt G, and it was pretty cool. Noah and Anthony were able to top out Rolling Roof, while Bobby got close. I was quite tired from all the climbing I did that morning and yesterday, so I spent some time trying to get photos.
Bobby on Rolling Roof
Pulling the lip of Rolling Roof. PC: Jake
I do wish there was more roof climbing than vert climbing, but I'll work my way up to it. I did end up eyeing a line to the right of the roof which looks like it could traverse the entire length of the cave, and then airs out. I like the idea of that line better, more upside-down time than up. I think I'll need to work my way up to it though. Maybe Bobcat's first?
Climbing on a long traverse (potentially undone) from the right side of Rolling Roof
Revenant Roof was a whole other story. Revenant is to the right of Rolling Roof. Besides Noah, who sent, I was the closest to finishing off the V8 on Revenant Roof. I'm unsure of the name, but it climbs out some amazing underclings to a nice two finger pocket that is reminiscent of the stinky ass. It then does a massive throw to a beautiful jug and you end up doing some foot-first finishes to a relatively chill, but airy, topout. This one is reminiscent of Tony's Roof and I enjoyed this one much more than Rolling Roof. Even though I was tired, I was able to do the climb in two halves. I hope to come back soon to give it a proper go as well as work some of the other longer, mega lines on it and the other stuff in the woods.
Recently, the weather has finally been good enough to start heading up north. I would like to establish a list here of my goals this season:
1) 3x Mini-projects: Blockhead, V8; R God is Neither, V8, Puma Prey, V8/V9, Streetfighter V7
2) Projects: The Girl, V10; Lolita, V10, The Girl from Ipanema V10/V11
3) Repeat Receptionist V10
4) Bored of Inquiry 5.12b at Jacks Canyon, Purple Shark 5.12a at the Pit, Pulse Roof 5.12c at the Pit
5) Go explore New/Dain's World with Bobby on the Rim (Bobcat's Den), and camp out at End of the World
6) Maybe do a climb at Kelly Canyon, Cherry Canyon (The Rapture/Juggernaut(?)/Truffle Shuffle)
7) Make a video compiling all of the single climbs on Badass Roof.
And now, all the word soup and stream of consciousness:
I've been spending the last 2-3 months recovering from an injured wrist and the last 2 weeks recovering from the knee injuries that I got in Joes climbing on Water Paintings. Fitness hasn't been all that great, but I'm sure it'll build up as I keep heading up north. I've started doing max hangs before my sessions at the gym. I don't know if they work, but at least my fingers are warmed up. The main goal is to either complete the mini-projects as I work through the lines on Mars Roof, but at this point, it feels quite late in the season and I'm not at where I would like to be.
On my first day back at the draw, I was able to repeat the Fin, Bat Cave, Anorexic, Badass, and Meateater first go from the start. I then went to work on Blockhead, which is the last independent line on the Badass Roof. I'm not entirely sure where the line goes, but as the guidebook says it exits to the right of Stinky Ass, so it does. It's an interesting climb, as in the way I climb it, I revolve around a left hand stacked pocket for 3 right-hand sloper slaps, each one a little bit bigger than the last. I was able to do all the moves, but didn't have enough pads to get it done. I'm planning on going there this weekend to finish it off. It may or may not go, but it's worth a shot.
Blockhead on a cooler day
The past weekend, I was climbing at Jacks Canyon with Stijn, Kevin, Tyler, Carmen, Kim, Cole, and Antho on Saturday. I haven't touched a rope in forever, but I managed to work out all the moves on a bouldery sport route, Bored of Inquiry, with Cole. The next day, I hit up the draw to see if I could finish it off. It was not a good decision, as it was quite hot and stuffy in flag. I got sucked into climbing at Anorexic Roof with the AZR crew, and did a few laps on Anorexic and tried to repeat Bullemic (Eatmeater). Bullemic didn't go, but I did manage to find some very cool beta that I think is better than my current strategy. I then hiked over to Badass where I climbed a bit with Adrianne, Dustin, and their family, as well as Sidney from AZR. I found that I was running on fumes (climbing on just cold brew and 6 hours of sleep is not a good strategy), and flailed a bit on Stinky Ass and Blockhead. I was still able to do Badass. At the very least, in my bare minimum state, I'm able to still crank out a classic or two to build up some endurance.
The season has been largely quite uneventful, but I hope it gets better soon as the forest roads open up. Unfortunately, due to the large amount of snowfall, it looks like Choss Roof won't be dry until August or September. I've also been fluctuating in motivation, since I haven't climbed anything very satisfying in recent memory. On the upside, I've gotten some people ready to head out and try hard, so I think that will help. I also recently received news that Mars Roof is dry so I'm now motivated to get better and stronger. Life in and out of climbing has been a bit stale. I'm still a bit lost on what I want. Maybe I'll find out that answer too. I'm wary, but hopeful.
