Roof Shenanigans: the Draw, Underhill, and Bobcat's

A lot has happened since Friday, so this will be longer than usual. I spent the past three days up in Flagstaff, doing the usual, which is wandering around the forest and doing a lot of upside down shenanigans. 

Friday

All of this started with Noah convincing me to come up and camp with him and Ryan on Friday while they worked on their projects at the draw. Ryan, Noah, and I have an ongoing bet where we each picked a project that we thought would take us an equivalent amount of time to send, and the first one who would send would get AYCE sushi paid by the person who sent last. Ryan picked Badass, Noah picked Anorexic Sacrifice, and I picked The Girl. Since I already held up my end of the bargain, the bet is now between Noah and Ryan on who would do their projects first. Due to timing, we ended up first going to the Anorexic Roof, where we all warmed up/climbed on Anorexic Sacrifice. Noah and Ryan both made some good links, while I flailed around on both Carnivore & Carnivore Direct. Progress is slow, but steady. I'm still unable to stick the rodeo jump, but I have some microbeta from Josh Denham who mentioned a slight pull on the right hand would help control the swing, so that's what I'm going to try. I also decided to give the toehook method on the exit of Carnivore a try, inspired by a video from Sam T. and Matt G. 

Attempting the toehook method on Carnivore. It feels close, but disaster struck when the left foot hit my right ankle, dislodging the toehook.

We then headed over to Badass, where we met up with Joe Durling who was trying Stinky Ass, and we all climbed on the various lines. Both Badass and Anorexic have been receiving a lot of attention lately. I tried linking up the start of Big Block into the ending of Blockhead. Unfortunately due to a bicep cramp I sustained from earlier in the session (seriously, what is up with that??), I was unable to stick the last toss before the topout. I'm unsure of the difficulty, but more than likely not much harder than Stinky Ass. 

We then ended the day with some debauchery at the Bat Cave where I was convinced to attempt the worst beer lap of all time on Ultramega. It was the worst for two reasons: 1) I can't chug, and 2) I didn't crush the can. There's always another day. Here's a picture of an attempt at making a skewer for a hotdog out of some random stick at the campsite. 

A fragrantly bearded dude trying to figure out how to make this work

The terrible chugging technique and questionable beta makes it 5.12a now. The carbonation sucks. 

Saturday

I had a very short session on Saturday with Bobby, Josh, and Skyler at Underhill. It was a decent day, as we had all made progress on our projects. I worked on Hockety Pockety with Skyler, while Josh gave send goes on Clampdown, the king line on this roof, and Bobby took down Second Breakfast, a line established by Hunter Damiani that has a consequential ending. Surprisingly, I was able to do all the moves of Hockety in a few goes, sans the topout, since it was very sandy and dirty when I got there. I will be making a return trip to clean up the start moves, clean the top, and then get it done. 

Roof section

Headwall section and almost kicking Bobby into the canyon

Here's a picture of Bobby putting on a clinic, way to get it done! 

Having the best meal of the day, twice? Sign me up!

I then met up with Noah, Kim, and Ryan for some water sports. Paddleboarding is dope, I think I'm going to get one. Noah, Kim, and I then set up camp, made food, drinks, and had way too many snacks.

  

Sunday

On Sunday, I parted ways with Kim and Noah, who were going to the Pit, where Kim was going to try her project, The Abyss. I'll spoil it here, she sent it packing home! Way to go! 

I met up with Bobby and Christina, and we drove a long way east of Flagstaff into the red desert, and then up into the Sitgreaves National Forest. 

Looks like another roof in the distance

After quite a strenuous descent into the canyon, and witnessing the massive crown jewel known as Blimp Roof, we found our way into the Bobcat's Den, first found and established by John Cooper and Patrick Fitts more than a decade ago. The roof reminds me of a combination of the pockets of Mars Roof with some compression elements of Don't peace me out, Jimmy Symans, a compression boulder on edges at the Draw. There were five main lines there, starting with Emergence of the Herd on the left side of the roof, and then Remnants of the Herd, Wapiti Cave, Remnants of the Acid (a low start of Remnants of the Herd), and the king line The Elk Graveyard. I believe there is an undone project here, the Elks on Acid Project, which links up The Elk Graveyard  and Remnants of the Acid. 

I'm quite psyched on this cave, as the climbs are different enough from the draw climbs, while still having some base in the pocket dangling. I feel like there are a few other lines left. It would need further inspection, but I would imagine that there's a a line starting from the left on Emergence of the Herd that climbs into Wapiti Cave. If it's possible to just climb through a line of holds, without traversing the lip, it would be an amazing project. 

In the meanwhile, we were able to satch up Wapiti Cave, got to work on Remnants of the Herd (I'm bringing sunglasses so the sun doesn't blind me again), and I started scoping out moves on Elk Graveyard. It's quite a good climb, feels much more difficult than the climbs on Mars Roof, but I imagine that with fresher skin and more familiarity with the moves, it will go. After that, then the bigger lines. Unfortunately, one of the holds on Emergence of the Herd has a burgeoning wasp nest, so that will need to go. 

Feels nice to have a few lines to be psyched on again!

Sending Wapiti Cave

Bobby sending Wapiti Cave

Elk Graveyard. PC: Christina

Entering the crux of Remnants of the Herd. PC: Christina

Rotation crux. Cover your ears. 

Recent happenings

   Lolita 

East Coast 

Mars Roof training session for projects. 

Photo credit to Joe Durling. Repeating the Girl, and reacquainting myself with the Receptionist. Ran into local John Cooper, who put on a strong display showing a strong familiarity with the roof.  

Egyptian. 

First session trying it on my second day on. Still grabbed from Nick Coverdale. Very notable weekend.

Josh Denham put in good work this past weekend putting down Uptown Vandal (first time), The Egyptian (first time), The Girl, and The Receptionist in quick order. In my opinion, he should have gone through and did the rest of the climbs featured in Rampage. 

Other climbs done this weekend:

Cosmic Tricycle (Bobby)

R God is Neither (Noah)

I spent the weekend doing laps. I finished a small circuit at the Anorexic Roof (Anorexic, Meateater, Eatmeater), and a mini quad at Bad Ass Roof to regain fitness. The Missionary Position (Belly Sidepulls) was quite difficult, but went down. Felt harder than The Girl or Receptionist. I worked on Carnivore Direct and made progress. At the end of the day, we went to Mars where beta was refined. Everything feels much better over there now. Probably means I should climb there, and also another in a style I'm not as familiar with so I'm not just good at pockets. 

Bobcat's or something not at the draw hopefully soon. But for now:

Long Roofs

The roofs up north are quite long, difficult, and taxing, but I don't know if it's Death Note, Nexus, or Wheel of Life challenging.

Quite inspirational if I say so myself. 

FunkMoe: A Sam Davis Video at The Norwegian Wall. 

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The Girl

Did a new thing at Mars roof yesterday by sending the girl, which marks off the first of the three long-term projects. 

I ended up driving up to Flagstaff on Friday night, where I stayed the night with Cole, Grayson, and their friend, John and Danielle. John and Danielle bought a plot of land in Flagstaff, where they built a home together. It's a good reminder that all the good things take time. 

The next day, I headed out to Mars, and warmed up slowly. I ended up using a modified warmup protocol done by Dave MacLeod, where I did the initial half of the warmup before the weighted hangs, and then began climbing on the Girl. I met two locals while I was out there, Sam T. and Brent B., who were trying the other lines. The progress was slow at first. The conditions were good, but not as good as I would have liked. Some of the holds felt a bit greasy, and sun was hard to come by. This, combined with how powerful the climbing was, meant that much of the session was spent resting, monitoring skin, chalking up holds, with intermittent burns in between. Sam was trying out some new beta on Lolita, while Brent was giving the Receptionist some burns. Both were very knowledgeable and we shared whatever information with each other on each climb. 

As it was with the Receptionist, the key to sending was all in the micro beta. I had developed a sequence that uses two toe-cam bicycles after the heart-shape box cam that is used for both the Receptionist and Girl. However, I found during my initial three burns, spaced out with 40-50 minutes in between burns, I was able to get to the first sloper throw, but I was not able to generate. Upon further inspection, I found that there was a very specific angle that I needed to insert my right foot into the teacup hold, followed with a slight rotation of my left hand in the stacked pocket until the side of my index finger was cammed on a tiny knob in the pocket. 

Funnily enough, according to Kim W. , there was apparently a time where I mentioned that she would send a problem if she rotated her foot about 23.5 degrees, or something, she would do it. She did end up rotating the foot, and she did the problem. I unfortunately have the memory of a goldfish, so I cannot confirm, but if I'm finding that all my beta revolves around rotating my foot or hand by a very subtle difference (cough, cough, Receptionist), then I guess it's true, and I guess this incident on the Girl is further proof of it. 

With that, around noon, the conditions felt good. Brent was able to send Receptionist on his second go, while I immediately followed up with an ascent of the girl on my fourth go. It was probably the fastest I have ever climbed the sequence. Thank you to John and Danielle for hosting me, Cole for lending me his pad, Brent for the spot, and Sam for humoring me. 

I then got started on Lolita, and I'm quite psyched on it. I ended up meeting with Cole, Grayson, Halo, Noah, Kim W., and their new friend Colton at the Pit. I messed around a bit on the Abyss, while Cole gave Purple Shark a good burn. We then went to get food, and that was that. Well...I snuck in two celebratory laps on Super Roof at dusk, before going home, but y'know, fitness. 

Cole chilling out on Purple Shark

The overall process on the Girl felt much smoother than the Receptionist, but I learned a few key lessons that I hope to apply in my future sessions. 

1. Stick to 1 or 2 boulders a day if giving good effort send burns
2. To build fitness and familiarity (for Mars, especially), try to take the line to the top at least 4 times in a session (regardless if you fall or not)
3. Give at least 30-40 minutes of rest in between burns in order to save energy and skin. Skin was an important factor in this process, as I had to farm it the past week
4. Really take a step back and examine if the method is actually good, or if it's what you're familiar with.

Future plans:

I feel a bit more free to go check out some new lines now. Bobby and I are quite psyched to not hang out at the draw for a bit, as there are a few other things in the woods to look at. I, personally, am most psyched on doing a return visit to Underhill, Bobcat's Den, and Warped. I have no issues with doing sessions at Mars, as well, as I would be very happy to repeat The Girl, Receptionist, and try to work on Ipanema and Lolita. I still do have a few other mini-projects to complete too, such as Bullemic (from the actual bathang), R God, Puma Prey, Cosmic Tricycle, etc... I will more than likely make a return visit this coming Tuesday before my flight out of town. 

We'll see.  

Friends, Moderates and Mars

I've been primarily focused on the Girl at Mars roof, and I'm making slow and steady progress. The past memorial weekend, I was able to chunk it into 3, and to be quite honest, if you splice the footage together well and didn't examine it super closely, it looks like I already did it. 

But, I didn't. 

Here's the 3 chunks:

In true Mars fashion, it feels so close, but yet so far away. Similar to Receptionist, the crux is not the roof, but climbing through the bulge. There are two moves here that I find the most difficult. The first is falling into the right hand before the pogo. I was able to figure out that if I set up a cheeky bicycle, I can very easily control the come-in, removing the abruptness. The second is the pogo. It took me a while to realize, but the reason that getting my right foot into the teacup hold was so difficult from a ground rip is that I was being impatient when placing my left foot on the pinch. Then, there's the rest of the the climb which includes the pumpy traverse out right, and initial roof section. Mentally, I know I'm more than capable of doing the moves, but I feel that progress has been stymied due to conditions and skin. I'll keep trying it until I stop making progress.

As for other climbs, I figured out how to release the toe cam on R God is Neither and did the initial moves of Cosmic Tricycle into Cosmic Bicycle, so it's always nice to see progress. It would be good to climb on something not pockety for once. 

And here's some moderates and pictures of me and friends mucking about on random lines at the draw:

Trying to skip every hold on the Coffin